Devin's New Semi-Colon
Donation protected
This past month, I was diagnosed with colon cancer.
I’m young, healthy (otherwise at least), and I eat well. Many of you have been to my dinner parties, so you know my cooking is both legit and healthy. So since, the risk factors are being over 50 (I may secretly be over 50…one of my friends has described me as her grandparent), eating red-meat (gave that up years ago), a low-activity life-style (um… running 10ks and half-marathons is a big part of this story), a high fat diet (nope), and a low-fiber diet (double nope). No one expected it.
Honestly, it was kind of like an episode of House. My running times were getting slower due to anemia, but it had been misdiagnosed due to my age and a few other factors (which I won’t go into detail here, but let’s just say they involve the butt).
It might have gone on for another year or two if I hadn’t gotten so worried about my 10k times which were steadily getting worse and worse that I went for a scope…and they found a polyp the size of a ping-pong ball in there. While we hoped at first it was nothing, well that hope was about as successful as hoping Jack Bauer actually stopped the bad guys in hour 4 of a season.
Needless to say, the polyp held some malignant cells in the core and my world was turned upside down. Cancer. It’s spread slightly to a few neighboring lymph nodes. And that’s where the surgery and my semi-colon come in.
In order to get ahead of it and prevent a future recurrence, I’ve had a re-section of the colon and a few of the surrounding lymph nodes taken out. The doctors are optimistic that with this surgery, I should get it out all out. We won’t know though, for sure until the doctor has finished looking at what he took out when he turned my “:” into a “;”.
Now here’s another shitty part about all this: even though I’ve always been fully insured, these kinds of surgeries aren’t cheap. Aetna thinks of endless excuses to not cover things (for example anesthesia is optional for some procedures. Yes, I know. What?!) and my plan offered via USC has a pretty-hefty out of pocket. It’s hard to say how much this is going to all cost in the end, but let’s just say it’ll be a bit more than one normally expects to spend on their butt in their lifetime.
So, if you’re willing and able, I (and my family) would appreciate any help you can offer. I’m not here to get rich, just to avoid the crushing medical debt. So it goes without being said, but will be said, any money raised will go to directly helping me cover my medical bills. If somehow we surpass my goal, any excess money will go directly to the Colon Cancer Alliance.
Devin’s new semi-colon thanks you all in advance.
I’m young, healthy (otherwise at least), and I eat well. Many of you have been to my dinner parties, so you know my cooking is both legit and healthy. So since, the risk factors are being over 50 (I may secretly be over 50…one of my friends has described me as her grandparent), eating red-meat (gave that up years ago), a low-activity life-style (um… running 10ks and half-marathons is a big part of this story), a high fat diet (nope), and a low-fiber diet (double nope). No one expected it.
Honestly, it was kind of like an episode of House. My running times were getting slower due to anemia, but it had been misdiagnosed due to my age and a few other factors (which I won’t go into detail here, but let’s just say they involve the butt).
It might have gone on for another year or two if I hadn’t gotten so worried about my 10k times which were steadily getting worse and worse that I went for a scope…and they found a polyp the size of a ping-pong ball in there. While we hoped at first it was nothing, well that hope was about as successful as hoping Jack Bauer actually stopped the bad guys in hour 4 of a season.
Needless to say, the polyp held some malignant cells in the core and my world was turned upside down. Cancer. It’s spread slightly to a few neighboring lymph nodes. And that’s where the surgery and my semi-colon come in.
In order to get ahead of it and prevent a future recurrence, I’ve had a re-section of the colon and a few of the surrounding lymph nodes taken out. The doctors are optimistic that with this surgery, I should get it out all out. We won’t know though, for sure until the doctor has finished looking at what he took out when he turned my “:” into a “;”.
Now here’s another shitty part about all this: even though I’ve always been fully insured, these kinds of surgeries aren’t cheap. Aetna thinks of endless excuses to not cover things (for example anesthesia is optional for some procedures. Yes, I know. What?!) and my plan offered via USC has a pretty-hefty out of pocket. It’s hard to say how much this is going to all cost in the end, but let’s just say it’ll be a bit more than one normally expects to spend on their butt in their lifetime.
So, if you’re willing and able, I (and my family) would appreciate any help you can offer. I’m not here to get rich, just to avoid the crushing medical debt. So it goes without being said, but will be said, any money raised will go to directly helping me cover my medical bills. If somehow we surpass my goal, any excess money will go directly to the Colon Cancer Alliance.
Devin’s new semi-colon thanks you all in advance.
Organizer and beneficiary
Chase Gregory
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Devin Toohey
Beneficiary