Help Kenan fight cancer!
Donation protected
Hi everyone,
Kenan, Ginger and I are reaching out to you to let you know Kenan was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) in early May. We created this Go Fund Me page to help pay for his medical and living expenses for the foreseeable future. He's unable to work while fighting his cancer, and we have learned that at the end of his Family Medical leave in July, he will be laid off from his job. Furthermore, due to having to live in Detroit currently, near the Cancer Institute where he is being treated (see below for more info) and the shelter in place orders here in Michigan, his wife Ginger has also been out of work.
We apologize if you are just learning about Kenan's cancer via this Go Fund Me page. Kenan is known and loved by so many and we were unable to contact everyone personally. As well, if you know him, you know how strong he can be and this is a tough thing to have to tell everyone. It is even more tough to reach out and ask for financial help. As you can imagine, this diagnosis has and will forever change the course of his and his little family's lives.
It's understandable you may have questions about the details of his cancer, and what the future holds. We’ve done our best to answer those questions below. Of course, you can contact us if you have additional questions, or just want to give them some love and support. We will do our best to respond. You can reach Kenan at [email redacted] and his wife Ginger at [email redacted]
We know these are difficult days for all of us – financially, physically, and emotionally. It's always hard to ask for help, especially when so many of our friends and family members are in need right now, too. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers and support. Your support means more than we can express. The money you donate will help them with their monthly bills, food, medical, and all the other life stuff that they need as we get them set up on long term disability.
Much Love,
Kenan, Ginger, Daxton (and David)
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For those of you receiving this who may not know Kenan:
Kenan and his small family, wife Ginger and 9 year old son Daxton live in Indian River, Michigan. Kenan works at a factory near their home called Moeller Aerospace. He started this job less than a year ago, but quickly became one of the top performers. He works on detailed machinery making precision parts for airplanes, jets, etc. However, he will now be laid off due to not being able to go back to work after his FMLA leave expires in July. Most likely indefinitely losing his job as we have been told it will be a minimum of two years before he may be back to normal and even be ready to start looking for work again. His wife Ginger works at the Inn Between, a cozy, fun bar and restaurant in Indian River owned by her wonderful mother Brigitte. However, due to Covid they have been closed down and the Michigan Lockdown has now been extended until June 12th. Their beautiful, energetic son Daxton is 9. He loves Mario brothers, conquering video games, learning everything he can through YouTube, playing with his dad, and making lots of clever jokes. He also loves cats and dogs.
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Below are the details of Kenan’s cancer story and what we know so far:
In late April of this year, Kenan started having lots of pain in his side. After a second day of pain, Ginger rushed him to the Emergency room closest to their home. Kenan was then rushed to a larger hospital in Petoskey, Michigan where they discovered his spleen was rupturing. They had to perform an emergency Splenectomy. Due to his spleen rupturing, the doctors wanted to find out the cause. As you may know, the spleen acts as a filter of "bad toxins" for our bodies. And Kenan's had grown to over 3 times its normal size before being removed. After many tests including MRI's, CT scan, bloodwork, and so on...the doctor's determined he had some type of blood cancer - most likely a rare form of Leukemia.
He was once again transferred by ambulance for 3 hours down to Detroit where he was admitted into the Karmanos Cancer Institute. Here he was examined and monitored for almost two weeks. The doctors here ran their own round of tests concluding Kenan does have cancer. He was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-CELL-ALL).
Kenan's treatment plan is going to be lengthy. We have been living in Detroit near the cancer institute since the beginning of May. He began the process with his first round of chemotherapy on May 8. His entire treatment plan will take place in 7 phases, each lasting a month long. He can expect to be in treatment for approximately two years which includes these 7 months of intense chemotherapy. They would prefer him to stay in the Detroit area for the 7 months, however, this is quite impossible due to financial constraints.
Currently he is staying in Detroit near the Cancer Institute as the first month, Phase I, is the most intense. He is doing okay with the treatments. It is slightly more complicated with having a major surgery on his spleen. Last week, they were able to remove his staples from this surgery, so he can finally begin the process of healing from that.
We are told to expect complications from time to time due to the chemo. We had quite an eventful Memorial Day weekend, with Kenan going in for his “normal” Friday chemo appointment. He was not feeling well on that Friday, so they ended up admitting him due to high blood sugar and blood clots they found. He stayed in the hospital over the holiday weekend and was discharged on that following Tuesday. His blood sugar is now under control, however they have added a daily does of insulin. Kenan is taking all of this like a trooper and the strong minded person he is, learning to quickly administer shots himself.
Last week, marked his last chemo treatment of Phase I. He underwent a bone marrow biopsy test. We are awaiting the results. This will tell us how much cancer has been eliminated, where in the body it may still be, etc.
Now that he has concluded one full month of chemo and Phase I, he will be able to receive a modified treatment plan called Hyper-CAVD. This means Kenan, Ginger, and Daxton will be able to finally go home. Then he will come back to Detroit to the Cancer institute once a month for approximately 5 days for chemo. As you can imagine, being in their own home would help so much with not only the familiarity, but mentally being in their own space and lifting their spirits. It has been good for them to be near the Cancer Institute here in Detroit, but getting home is the goal and will be so welcomed for them.
Also, due to Kenan losing his job upcoming in July, consequently comes losing insurance. And he will need lots of medical attention, hospital visits, medicine, and a few more months of chemotherapy after his insurance ends. We will work to get all of the state and local help we can apply for, but your help will be much appreciated!
My partner Chad and I have been helping his wife, trying to be caretakers throughout this process, and we are doing our best to be strong and give him the best possible outcome he can get. It's hard on the family some days, but we're supporting each other and trying to remain positive, have fun here in Detroit with Daxton, cook meals, play games, jump in the lake and watch lots of movies. This time together is definitely the silver lining in this whole mess of a world right now.
I hope this information is helpful and answers any questions you might have. Thank you for reading and for your consideration in donating to help them. We hope to get them home soon so they can try and get back to a normal life as much as possible while they continue this long journey ahead.
THANK YOU.
The Islamovski's
Kenan, Ginger and I are reaching out to you to let you know Kenan was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) in early May. We created this Go Fund Me page to help pay for his medical and living expenses for the foreseeable future. He's unable to work while fighting his cancer, and we have learned that at the end of his Family Medical leave in July, he will be laid off from his job. Furthermore, due to having to live in Detroit currently, near the Cancer Institute where he is being treated (see below for more info) and the shelter in place orders here in Michigan, his wife Ginger has also been out of work.
We apologize if you are just learning about Kenan's cancer via this Go Fund Me page. Kenan is known and loved by so many and we were unable to contact everyone personally. As well, if you know him, you know how strong he can be and this is a tough thing to have to tell everyone. It is even more tough to reach out and ask for financial help. As you can imagine, this diagnosis has and will forever change the course of his and his little family's lives.
It's understandable you may have questions about the details of his cancer, and what the future holds. We’ve done our best to answer those questions below. Of course, you can contact us if you have additional questions, or just want to give them some love and support. We will do our best to respond. You can reach Kenan at [email redacted] and his wife Ginger at [email redacted]
We know these are difficult days for all of us – financially, physically, and emotionally. It's always hard to ask for help, especially when so many of our friends and family members are in need right now, too. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers and support. Your support means more than we can express. The money you donate will help them with their monthly bills, food, medical, and all the other life stuff that they need as we get them set up on long term disability.
Much Love,
Kenan, Ginger, Daxton (and David)
-------------
For those of you receiving this who may not know Kenan:
Kenan and his small family, wife Ginger and 9 year old son Daxton live in Indian River, Michigan. Kenan works at a factory near their home called Moeller Aerospace. He started this job less than a year ago, but quickly became one of the top performers. He works on detailed machinery making precision parts for airplanes, jets, etc. However, he will now be laid off due to not being able to go back to work after his FMLA leave expires in July. Most likely indefinitely losing his job as we have been told it will be a minimum of two years before he may be back to normal and even be ready to start looking for work again. His wife Ginger works at the Inn Between, a cozy, fun bar and restaurant in Indian River owned by her wonderful mother Brigitte. However, due to Covid they have been closed down and the Michigan Lockdown has now been extended until June 12th. Their beautiful, energetic son Daxton is 9. He loves Mario brothers, conquering video games, learning everything he can through YouTube, playing with his dad, and making lots of clever jokes. He also loves cats and dogs.
-----------------
Below are the details of Kenan’s cancer story and what we know so far:
In late April of this year, Kenan started having lots of pain in his side. After a second day of pain, Ginger rushed him to the Emergency room closest to their home. Kenan was then rushed to a larger hospital in Petoskey, Michigan where they discovered his spleen was rupturing. They had to perform an emergency Splenectomy. Due to his spleen rupturing, the doctors wanted to find out the cause. As you may know, the spleen acts as a filter of "bad toxins" for our bodies. And Kenan's had grown to over 3 times its normal size before being removed. After many tests including MRI's, CT scan, bloodwork, and so on...the doctor's determined he had some type of blood cancer - most likely a rare form of Leukemia.
He was once again transferred by ambulance for 3 hours down to Detroit where he was admitted into the Karmanos Cancer Institute. Here he was examined and monitored for almost two weeks. The doctors here ran their own round of tests concluding Kenan does have cancer. He was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-CELL-ALL).
Kenan's treatment plan is going to be lengthy. We have been living in Detroit near the cancer institute since the beginning of May. He began the process with his first round of chemotherapy on May 8. His entire treatment plan will take place in 7 phases, each lasting a month long. He can expect to be in treatment for approximately two years which includes these 7 months of intense chemotherapy. They would prefer him to stay in the Detroit area for the 7 months, however, this is quite impossible due to financial constraints.
Currently he is staying in Detroit near the Cancer Institute as the first month, Phase I, is the most intense. He is doing okay with the treatments. It is slightly more complicated with having a major surgery on his spleen. Last week, they were able to remove his staples from this surgery, so he can finally begin the process of healing from that.
We are told to expect complications from time to time due to the chemo. We had quite an eventful Memorial Day weekend, with Kenan going in for his “normal” Friday chemo appointment. He was not feeling well on that Friday, so they ended up admitting him due to high blood sugar and blood clots they found. He stayed in the hospital over the holiday weekend and was discharged on that following Tuesday. His blood sugar is now under control, however they have added a daily does of insulin. Kenan is taking all of this like a trooper and the strong minded person he is, learning to quickly administer shots himself.
Last week, marked his last chemo treatment of Phase I. He underwent a bone marrow biopsy test. We are awaiting the results. This will tell us how much cancer has been eliminated, where in the body it may still be, etc.
Now that he has concluded one full month of chemo and Phase I, he will be able to receive a modified treatment plan called Hyper-CAVD. This means Kenan, Ginger, and Daxton will be able to finally go home. Then he will come back to Detroit to the Cancer institute once a month for approximately 5 days for chemo. As you can imagine, being in their own home would help so much with not only the familiarity, but mentally being in their own space and lifting their spirits. It has been good for them to be near the Cancer Institute here in Detroit, but getting home is the goal and will be so welcomed for them.
Also, due to Kenan losing his job upcoming in July, consequently comes losing insurance. And he will need lots of medical attention, hospital visits, medicine, and a few more months of chemotherapy after his insurance ends. We will work to get all of the state and local help we can apply for, but your help will be much appreciated!
My partner Chad and I have been helping his wife, trying to be caretakers throughout this process, and we are doing our best to be strong and give him the best possible outcome he can get. It's hard on the family some days, but we're supporting each other and trying to remain positive, have fun here in Detroit with Daxton, cook meals, play games, jump in the lake and watch lots of movies. This time together is definitely the silver lining in this whole mess of a world right now.
I hope this information is helpful and answers any questions you might have. Thank you for reading and for your consideration in donating to help them. We hope to get them home soon so they can try and get back to a normal life as much as possible while they continue this long journey ahead.
THANK YOU.
The Islamovski's
Organizer
David Isljamovski
Organizer
Indian River, MI