My Brother needs funding to treat rare cancer

Hello, my name is Marla and my brother, Michael desperately needs help to get treatment for a rare cancer that he was recently diagnosed with called Chordoma.

First of all, thank you so much for taking an interest in our heartbreaking story. My little brother, Michael is suffering in agonizing pain and trying to get through all of the road blocks in the medical system.

Michael, age 45, was just recently diagnosed with sacral chordoma. This is an extremely rare cancer with only 300 diagnosed cases in the United States per year. He has been dealing with chronic and constant pain since March, 2023. My brother was initially misdiagnosed. After months of pain, care, and treatment, an MRI revealed the mass.

My brother’s care has been through Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor. The neurosurgeon met with my brother on January 10 and referred him to MD Anderson in Texas. This has created a great deal of challenges and extra stress for Michael in terms of his health insurance since he has United Healthcare Medicaid. Trying to get a prior authorization to get out of state coverage has been impossible so far. He does not have a lot of money, so this creates more stress and an enormous financial burden for him as well.

I found out about other medical institutions in the country whom have experts in treating chordoma, but again, we are continuing to hit road block after road block with my brother's health insurance. He's single and has no children, so my father, my other brother, my husband, and I are all helping him to navigate this complex situation.

My brother’s background is that he’s always been self-employed. He’s a musician who is self taught and he can play pretty much any instrument out there and he sings as well, which makes him very talented. He will do music lessons for people or play at gigs for ways to earn income.

To make things even more complicated, our mother has been disabled since 2017. She’s been bedridden and has been in and out of various skilled care facilities. We are trying to care for her as well as much as possible. Four years ago, my brother did try to care for our Mother in his own residence. He managed to get some funds together for her. Unfortunately, this living situation was short-lived due to her health needs, my brother's own stress, mental health challenges and financial challenges. I have had the challenges of not only helping to care for our Mother over the years, but also I work full time and I am married with a child as well to take care of. These days, I am juggling being a caretaker for my immediate family at home, our Mother and my brother.

My brother has always put other's health needs above his own; especially when it comes to our own Mother. He will spend countless hours with our Mom helping her with eating, doing occupational and physical therapy, talking with her, singing with her and playing music for her. He visits with her almost every day. He is so dedicated to helping her!

My brother also just marked the 1-year anniversary of having suffered the widow maker heart attack last year on 1/31/23 at the age of 44 years old. Michigan Medicine medical providers saved his life then and my brother is one of the 12 percent who are survivors of the widow maker heart attack. Fast forward to today and now my brother has a rare cancer that only very few specialists in the country can treat.

Our father lives in Florida. We’ve had so much happen in our family in the last few months with all kinds of challenges. Our stepmother recently just sadly passed of stage three pancreatic cancer on January 8. Our mother just had a stroke about a month ago and of course, now my brother’s cancer diagnosis. We traveled down to Florida to see our Dad and Step-Mom before our Step-Mom passed. Despite my brother's ongoing pain, he traveled by car with our other brother to Florida to spend time with our Dad and Step-Mom.

Please, we need some urgent help here with the seemingly impossible blockades in my brother, Michael's care. My brother’s tumor has likely grown significantly in size since his initial diagnosis so, of course, I am extremely concerned at this point even more so for him and his health. He’s taking so many different pain medications and on more and more just to relieve the pain. Time is of the ultimate and imperative essence with my brother’s growing tumor. I strongly feel he needed to get treatment yesterday at this point!!

Sincerely,

Marla Biederman, an extremely concerned sister