Help Master Penguin and Ginna help Their son Dan

4/22/2024 UPDATE!!

So Dan had surgery to remove the tumor on the 16th at Hershey medical the surgery took several hours and we was awake for some of the brain mapping during it. The idea was that they remove as much of the tumor as possible without removing too much functional brain tissue. Initial pathology shows a type of tumor that can be cancerous but because they prognosis for this specific type is so varied they sent it away for DNA mapping so they can target treatment. The surgeon seemed to think buy the looks of it that it is low grade but that it is still hard to determine on that alone. So now we wait to see if there is any other treatments needs like chemo or radiation. In the mean time while Dan's brain re boots the doctor compared it to that because they went in and jumbled things up a bit it will take time for him to get some things back. We started PT,OT and Speech when he was still in the hospital but we are doing more now that he is home. Our Plan is to go 2-3 times a week for therapy so that he can get his speech and memory as well as function back. He is getting there but it is going very slowly. We have also added another kink in the plans I have had some health issues prolly due to stress :( and am now on driving restrictions. We live in a very rural area so we don't have busses or anything so that is becoming a challenge. He did show improvement at speech therapy today from last week so that is a good sign. I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support we have had through all this you have really shown us what chosen family is all about. We are not totally out of the woods yet but making progress and that is a good thing.

2/21/2024- Last week we had a brain mapping MRI and were able to better determine what kind of tumor it is and if it had grown in the last few weeks. The good new is that it has not gotten much bigger in the last few weeks. They still haven't ruled out cancer because of the type of tumor it is it has a good chance of potentially developing into a more aggressive cancerous tumor down the road.. So the plan is that we will do some more imaging so he can map out the specifics of the tumor and then do a surgery in a couple months to remove it and biopsy. Depending on the results of the biopsy we will know more on how to proceed if it will be just surgery or a combination of Surgery/ chemo, radiation. We aren't out of the woods yet but it looks like if it is cancer they have caught it early on and it a more positive outlook. Even if it is benign with brain surgery there may be a need for therapies like speech/Pt and OT to help him regain any lost function. Thank you all for your support, thoughts prayers and well wishes it is defiantly appreciated in this time. Update : Hello everyone. First we would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support we have gotten from all of you it means more than you know. We have been doing several weeks with lots of test to determine if this tumor is just in the brain or if things have metastasized from other parts of the body.. Thankfully those scans have all came out clear so it looks like it is limited to the brain.

We still haven't ruled out cancer but the likelihood of it being a more complex cancer that has spread has lessened. Dan has good days and bad days on good days he is able to even do some art. He has not been able to go back to work yet neither have I since we have several appointments each week. We are fighting insurance to get the tests the doctors want approved including a brain mapping MRI to be done in 2 weeks right before the visit with the neurosurgeon. Today we went to Hershey for the initial visit with the nuero team. They did lots of blood work and they ordered a 48 hour eeg to check for sezuire activity. They are also changing up meds a bit to help with headaches swelling and sezuires. We hope to have a more definitive diagnosis/prognosis and plan moving forward in the next couple week. Thank you all again for your love and support as well as your thoughts and prayers with all this.

Ginna

Many of you already know Master Penguin and ginna and a lot of U/us have gotten the privilege of meeting their son Dan. Dan is a transgender artist in O/our community.

Unfortunately, it was recently discovered that Dan has a mass on his brain and has started having seizures and convulsions. Dan is being treated at Hershey Medical. While insurance will cover a lot of the cost, it won’t cover all costs in getting Dan the medical treatments he is going to need.

Master Penguin and ginna have recently taken in a family of 7 this winter to help them get back on their feet. They have taken in foster children and they help where and when they can to those in need. Master Penguin and ginna will be going back and forth from Hershey to their home in Gettysburg. Dan will not be able to work for sometime to come, ginna will be unable to work as she will be caring for Dan. Please give what you can to help this amazing, inspiring, and generous family