Help Jeff Fight Rare Terminal Cancer

Hi Everyone--you may remember that Jeff had some serious medical issues in 2015 to the point where he was off of work, seeing specialists and trying to support his family while battling recurring MRSA infections.  Our extremely generous family and friend network set up a GoFundMe campaign for us  and kept us going financially and emotionally as we stabilized Jeff's issues with infections and got him onto a positive track.

By late 2017 Jeff was doing well enough that we decided to move to Batavia in the hops of opening up our own business.  We have family and friends between Rochester and Buffalo and loved the idea of being between two major cities in the event we were able to accomplish our dream of going into business for ourselves.  We officially moved to our new home in Batavia in March 2018.

Jeff improved slowly but steadily to the point where we felt starting our own insurance agency in Batavia, NY would be a perfect fit for us.  It would insulate Jeff from the germs he was exposed to, would allow me a flexible schedule to help him with any health issues he may experience, and would allow our family to pay back the community for all of the support we received in 2015.  Our goal was to create a place that would be a fixture of the community--to provide service and care to others and to provide financial support to others as they helped us.

On February 19, 2020, we opened our agency on Main Street and three weeks later, COVID shut down our state.  We adapted to working from home, but legislation that restricted our available marketing activities created a big financial strain.  Additionally, because our business was so new, we did not quality for any of the state or federal aid available to new businesses.

I began to run the business from home like a variety of other business owners who found themselves juggling home school, work, and life during a pandemic.  While this was going on, we could tell that something wasn't right with Jeff's health, but after 6 years of battling chronic illness, we didn't want to believe that something else could be wrong. 

Over the past year he was having increasing trouble swallowing.  He could not "get up and go" like he was starting to be able to do again in 2018 and 2019.  He lost interest in a lot of things that he previously enjoyed.  Opening the business seemed to help with getting him moving more, but once March 2020 hit, he just couldn't keep up anymore, even with running the business remotely.

Finally in January 2021, Jeff fell in our driveway on some black ice and about a week later went into United Memorial Medical Center because of severe abdominal pain and swelling.  At the time, we figured he had another MRSA lesion or maybe an internal infection.  What they found was that he had lost 5 units of blood somehow and was severely anemic.  After additional tests (that were done without me there due to Covid restrictions), the doctors told him that he had cancer.  There were visible lumps in his lungs, one on his liver, and the throat swelling/anemia pointed to cancer in his esophagus.  

The doctors at UMMC were able to do an endoscopy 2 days later to confirm that he had a tumor in his esophagus down toward his stomach.  We were grateful that a subsequent colonoscopy came back clear, but the later pathology report on his esophagus confirmed that the cells were moderately differentiated and the tumor is about 5cm across.

Because Jeff is only 41 we asked who the doctor would see if this were her, and she stated that Sloan Kettering is the place to go.  We set up a consultation there and also at Strong to see what options we had.  Since January's diagnosis, we have made two trips to Sloan Kettering for a consult and one for a biopsy.  We have started to meet with the oncology team at Strong--have another appointment scheduled on March 9th to discuss chemo and radiation.

Jeff's cancer is at least stage 3 and potentially stage 4 depending on the results of the liver and coming spine biopsy.  We're a bit in shock and trying to figure out how to keep him comfortable while also getting him the best possible treatment.  Strong and Sloan Kettering have been absolutely wonderful about attacking this together in a united way and are partnering to share results and treatment options.

I will keep this page updated as we learn more and what our path forward will be.  Likely, there will be 5 to 7 weeks of chemo and radiation and potentially surgery depending on the tumor's size and Jeff's prognosis.  We are also seeing what options we have for clinical trials.

Any funds donated will be used to help pay for travel expenses to treatment, medical bills, memories as a family, and household expenses while Jeff fights his battle.