Spark’s Cancer Journey

Please, we hate to ask for help but we need it right now.. He hasn’t been able to work since they have done his first surgery because of it being a completely open area and the risk of infection.  So it has been stressful and a struggle to stay afloat with bills, traveling expenses (his surgeons are over an hour away and we have had to go there for the consults, procedures and follow-up visits), the holidays, our daughter’s birthdays, and just daily expenses .. But we are trying our best to stay positive and hopeful..

• This picture is: At the beginning, after the biopsy and before his first MOHS Procedure 

• This picture is: currently with the bridge in place..

So a few months ago is when what was thought to be a simple and basic dermatology appointment turned into something much more… At the dermatology appointment, the dermatologist decided to do an exam and found two places he was interested in taking biopsies of just as a precaution. The one on his chest came back benign, however, the one on his nose came back cancerous. At that point he was sent to see a Mohs Surgeon for a consultation. The surgeon decided that he would need to also see a plastic surgeon for a consultation because of the cancer being in such a sensitive and delicate place. The plastic surgeon advised that he would need to have reconstruction done after the original surgery was completed and the cancer was fully removed. He went for his first Mohs procedure (which is where they remove layers of the skin and section them onto slides to assess the layers for the presence of cancer cells) and they had to go back in and remove layers for a second time because there was still cancer cells present in the first set. He then had to see his plastic surgeon, who at that point advised of the options of doing a skin bridge (where they take skin from a location close to where the skin was removed and cut a flap of skin and connect it to the open area to create cell formation and blood flow to the area and then later go in and remove the access skin and it will heal will minimal scarring) or a skin graft( takin skin from another location on the body and covering the open area which would have a lot of scarring and visual defect). So it was decided to do the skin bridge.. So he currently has a flap of skin that was cut from his cheek connected to his nose creating skin cells and blood flow.. He went last week and got the sutures removed that we’re holding the bridge to his nose. Now he has to be very careful that the bridge is not disturbed or dislocated until he goes for surgery in a couple weeks for them to remove the excess skin.. I have attached a picture of what it looked like once they did the biopsy and before they started his surgeries and a picture of what it currently is now that the bridge is intact.. He still has at least one more surgery coming up..