Help Dennis Beat 7th Cancer

Dennis is 58, lives in Georgia, USA, he surprisingly looks and sounds bright as daylight! He is an extremely positive and uplifting person and possesses a heart for others. However, on the flip side, he has battled against prostate cancer, liver cancer, a stage 4 tumour in his small intestine, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, anaemia, high cholesterol, nephropathy, hyperlipidaemia and unsurprisingly, depression, which are taking a toll on his life and well-being.

Although Dennis has medical insurance and receives disability support it is insufficient to cater for this exhaustive list! He foots 20% of the medical bills and is responsible for copays and medication costs; minimal medications are free. Lately, he worked 2 jobs to help supplement his income - Monday to Friday, home carpentry; Friday nights, Saturdays and sometimes Sunday, chauffeuring. Beginning 2021, on doctor’s orders, he could no longer work due to the impact of the 2010 diagnosis of congestive heart failure! Throughout 2021, he was in and out of ER and hospital.

Dennis’ last surgery in July 2021 cost US$64,000! The doctor told him the ballpark figure for the defibrillator in his chest was US$80,000! Each month since this once independent man stopped working, he has had to “rob Peter to pay Paul” which has put him in a challenging and overwhelming position. Mental stress levels are increasing, with month-end medical bills and further monies required to sustain treatment and future surgeries.

In the midst, Dennis is co-parenting and trying his best to raise their 12 years old son but he has been unable to spend the desired “father-son” quality time, lately, sometimes it has been hard to breathe and that hurts!

The cancer epic started in October 2014, at age 50, Dennis was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he was married and his son was 3-year-old at the time. This was the first time his son saw his father's tears and even at that tender age, comforted him with a reason to live!

July 2015, Dennis was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma in his right kidney. He had surgery within that month to remove the cancer, the doctors found 2 different types, both stage 1 and successfully removed.

March 2016, Dennis had surgery for complications from the prostatectomy surgery done in 2014.

November 2016, small and big masses were found, once again in Dennis’ right kidney and had a partial nephrectomy. As a result of that surgery, he became anaemic and was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease! After this surgery, although he had a prostatectomy, he was informed after undetected for a year that PSA levels in his prostate started to elevate again!

July 2018, Dennis began 38 treatments of radiation for prostate cancer. He rang the Bell at Emory Winship Cancer Center upon treatment completion to find out once again, the cancer was undetectable.

In 2018 Dennis went through a separation which led to divorce, and did not result in his favour. That impacted him physically, mentally and financially and was left in a difficult position, still battling cancer and other illnesses. He exhausted his savings account trying to keep up with medical bills and other expenses.

December 2019, Dennis had surgery caused by complications of prostatectomy surgery back in October 2014. Post-surgery, once again, was informed PSA levels had elevated. At that point, it was a wait-and-see and with follow-up appointments every 3 months which are still current.

July 2021, Dennis had surgery again in his prostate area for further complications, this time from surgery in December 2019!

October 2021, Dennis had a catheterisation done on his heart. It was noted that the fraction/pumping of his heart was below 25% when it should have been above 55%, meaning any moment, his heart could stop beating!

November 2021, Dennis was given a life vest (defibrillator) which he currently wears in case his heart stops. December 2021, a mass was found on Dennis’ liver. After further testing, a stage 4 cancer was found on his small intestine. The surgeon informed him that he could not operate due to Dennis’ heart weakness making risk too high. Now he is taking new medications to strengthen his heart. In a couple of months, the medical team plan to perform a heart assessment to see if strengthened and if not, then they will have to put a defibrillator within his chest - another surgery! Because at the moment he is unable to have the cancer surgery, he took a shot end of January 2022. The hope is that it will slow down the progression of cancer until his heart gets stronger or he has surgery to put a defibrillator in his chest. There are urgent treatment costs for this and the life vest worn daily. He has copays to see his specialists and a patient advocate who specialises in getting help for people such as himself. Nothing has panned out yet. He is still battling prostate cancer but the good news is that the levels have decreased which he is truly grateful.

Prior to 2010, Dennis was also diagnosed with Severe Clinical Depression and anxiety, he is still in current treatment.

Dennis currently takes 30 pills a day! It is exhaustive but necessary for survival.

At the end of the day, Dennis just wants to be here for his only child. He has so much he wants to teach him. He is praying to God daily to work a miracle in him and through his story. In the interim, he needs our love to get through this rough patch and financial contributions towards these necessary operations

Initially, Dennis was hesitant to share what he is going through – his beautiful foolish pride - but he believes God may want to use his difficulties to inspire and encourage others to keep pressing forward no matter the circumstance. He is humbled and in advance, appreciative.

The £40K GBP figure is a round-up based upon Dennis' immediate requirement of $4K per month. I projected 12 months ($48K) to cover:

- basics for survival in his current condition and location.

- for medical - past debt monthly coverage, on-going care and support budget for future operations.

- GoFundMe transaction fees of 2.9% of donation + £0.25 (includes VAT), and credit & debit card fees.

- a sum for international transfer fees, £4 per transaction x unknown times.

If all of Dennis’ debt could be cancelled in one shot that would be ideal - thank you!