Help Josh and his Battle with Brain Cancer

Diagnosis

On August 12, 2022, my 36 year old brother, Josh, would hear the news from a Roswell neurosurgeon that would turn his entire world upside down. "Brain Cancer." And a biopsy a week later determined the specific type. Oligodendroglioma Grade 2.

What was Happening?

Amongst the daily grind of work, family, making music, traveling, and loving life, some strange new types of headaches trickled in. Coming from a family of migraine sufferers, he wondered, "is this normal?" Calls were made to family, questions were asked, appointments were made. An optometrist gave his best assessment.

Ocular Migraines.

Josh would discover some time later that the headaches and visual disturbances that he had been having for over a year weren't just ocular migraines, after all. The flashing and trailing images in the lower left side of his vision, hallucinations, and temporary pockets of blindness were just signals of something far more serious. What Josh had been experiencing were, in fact, seizures all along. The terrifying phenomenon is called hallucinatory palinopsia.

Josh's tumor is located on the occipital lobe of the brain. Its location and type (diffuse - spread out like a spider web) render it inoperable. After sending MRIs and pathology to some of the top brain surgeons in the country, a treatment plan was agreed upon. Radiation and Chemo, here we come!

Here's Where Your Help Comes in...

On October 17, Josh will be relocating to Houston, Texas for 7 weeks to receive proton radiation therapy. This specialized treatment (which is not available in Buffalo, NY, where Josh resides with his beautiful wife Alex) is ideal as it reduces the collateral damage to surrounding healthy brain tissue, potentially reducing some of the long-term effects of radiation that can occur down the line.

When his radiation treatments in Texas are finished, Josh will return home to Buffalo with Alex, and will start the next phase of his treatment plan; Chemotherapy. This will involve oral medications and IV infusions. While he is prepared for the illness (and baldness) that this creates, he is hopeful that he might be one of the lucky ones who handles it well.

Josh and Alex have a little bit saved, but were not prepared for this. After they crunched the numbers, they now have a clearer picture of what it all means financially for the two newlyweds. Josh is highly privileged to have health insurance when so many others are not so fortunate. But even so, the costs are overwhelming. Here is what Josh and Alex have estimated as the cost to fight this cancer.

They are asking for help to cover the health insurance out-of-pocket copays, flights to and from Houston for the proton radiation treatments, an Air Bnb for the housing he will need while he is being treated, as well as unexpected costs that will surely be surprising them within the next year or so.

Where is Josh's Head at?

Josh and the love of his life, Alex, in the midst of all the chaos, decided to bring the brightest ray of light to their lives at a difficult time and TIED THE KNOT on September 2nd. SO MUCH TO CELEBRATE!

Josh is happy to report that after a difficult period of shock, and acceptance, he is feeling more confident and in control of what is happening to him. It has been an insane couple of months, and 2023 will not bring much relief, either. However, he feels extremely lucky to have a wife like Alex, and to have the love and support of his mother, father, sisters, family and friends to be at his side while he fights this.

Please consider helping out one of the kindest souls on earth, my sweet, wonderful brother, Joshua.