Helping to defray costs for a family who would give to all

Hi my name is Jennifer Newell I am asking for help in raising money for a very special family. As anyone who knows the Batho family knows they would give the shirt off their back to even a stranger. Mike and Rene are devastated as any parents would be finding out their youngest son Joey was diagnosed with CANCER. Joey has beat many odds in his short 19 years and always does so with a smile on his face. He is the most determined kid I've known. Today he is scared as anyone would be. His family will endure a financial burden in the coming 25 weeks while getting Joey the treatment he needs that can only be done in Boston not only will one parent miss work but Joey who is a very hard worker will have to miss work as well. Anyone who knows Joey knows missing work will probably upset him more than the fact he is beating cancer. I am taking Rene's latest update to share Joey's last couple months.

So as some of you know, the past 2 months have been quite difficult for our family with an unexpected diagnosis that we would never ever thought would be happening! Joey had been having issues with severely high blood pressure and rapid heart rate, so he was scheduled for a CT scan after many other tests. The CT scan showed a massive tumor on his left kidney, almost as large as his kidney. We were seen the very next day by the surgeon and plan was to remove it immediately as it was thought to be renal cell carcinoma. The surgeon consulted with oncology here and they felt it should be biopsied first to rule out lymphoma. The biopsy came back with diagnosis of a rare young childhood cancer, common in 3-4 year olds, and even more rare in older children and adults, Wilm’s tumor. Finally the whole left kidney and tumor were removed March 1st. The pathology took almost 3 weeks to come back and once it did, to all of us it looked good, with no metastasis so the surgeon referred to oncology here to see if any preventative measures were needed. Well they reviewed everything and referred Joeys case to the pediatric oncology in Springfield. Once again we were referred next to a specialist in Wilm’s tumor in Boston. We met with pediatric oncology Monday and it was determined Joey would need BOTH chemo and radiation as they can’t be sure no cancer cells were released into the abdomen with the biopsy as it punctured the capsule of the tumor. Joey will need 25 weekly treatments of chemo and also 13 daily treatments of radiation to his left kidney area and his entire abdomen. So today we are once again on route to Boston for radiation mapping at 7am, and then surgery for his medi-port placement. Then tomorrow we are back down there for his first chemo treatment. Plan is for radiation to possibly start next Wednesday and go daily for the 13 treatments along with the chemo weekly. All of these appts have to be done in Boston as they have machines that can give the pediatric medications used to treat Wilm’s tumor. Joey is handling all this scary information like a champ. These next 25 weeks are going to be extremely draining and emotional for our entire family so we ask that you say a prayer for Joey to beat this with minimal side effects and for the strength to get through everything!! I pray that Joey comes out of this even stronger than he already is after everything else this world has thrown at him. #Joeystrong

Let's help try to keep that smile on Joey's face and lessen the financial burden on his family so they can concentrate on Joey!!! I understand times are tough right now. And if you are unable to donate, please share and keep sharing.