Support Shane in His Cancer Treatment

8/19: Last week Shane completed his third treatment. The CT came back later in the week and the results are it’s “unchanged.” This is good news!! The next treatment is scheduled for 9/2 at a lower dosage. After this round, the doctor will do another CT scan to confirm that Shane’s done, unless she lowers the dose and prescribes two more. Shane will continue immunotherapy every six weeks for two years and will be monitored every three months for at least two years.

Shane says he feels tired. He describes it as “it’s like I have energy and then I don’t.” Shane’s looking forward to treatment ending because by the time he’s done his horse, Stella, will be done with her year-long treatment AND THEY GO RIDING AGAIN!!!

Shane wants me to express again how thankful he is to ALL of you. Thank you for the words, healing thoughts, and peace bringing donations. Because of you all he can take care of himself the way his medical team is requesting.

8/10: Monday will be Shane’s 3rd treatment. The results of the CT scan aren’t back yet. He will be taking the week off to heal as he has recognized that’s what his body needs. He will update when the scans come back. Thank you for the continued support.

8/4: Shane spent this weekend in bed healing. It hasn’t been an easy few days. Wednesday he will go in for a CT scan. Friday he will find out if he’s done with chemo. If he is, he will go every 6 weeks for a light IV fusion to keep the cancer under control. If not, he will continue treatment. His next treatment is scheduled for the 12th. Shane knows he will need the week off to heal. He will contacts clients by the 10th and all will be rescheduled. We are hopeful this won’t be the case.

Shane is thankful every day for everyone. To those of you who donated, he said that he can “actually listen to my body and take off more than I would have been able to if it wasn’t for the donation that I have received. Every bit of it has gone to help pay bills.”

Reminder: please refrain from questions and updates regarding Shane’s health. They know it comes from a place of love but mentally it is taxing.

7/24: Shane had his second round of chemo on Monday. The doctor lowered his steroid dosage to hopefully reduce his anxiety which occurred last round. Last night, he had an MRI of his brain to make sure it’s healthy. In about a week, Shane will do another CT scan to compare to the April scan. This will show how the treatment is working.

Shane’s feeling tired and sluggish. But he said he’s pushing through.

Work Schedule:

Shane’s taking it day-by-day. He asks for patience. If you haven’t been rescheduled please call salon and leave a voicemail (note: this is a change from the email request). Roots salon sent out a mass text today to let everyone know GoFundMe is the platform to check up on Shane. They are also asking to please reschedule if you feel any kind of illness, even sinus pressure or changes. We cannot take any chance of Shane getting sick at this point.

Gratitude: Thank you for all the help with your donations. Shane also wants to say thank you for all the text messages letting him know you’re thinking of him. Again, thank you all!

IMPORTANT REQUEST:

We are trying to keep everyone as up to date as possible on here. This is so we can keep the salon a cancer-free conversation place. Joe and Shane are living this every minute of every day. Repeating it 10 times a day isn’t healthy for either of them. It can also be triggering for some of their clients who have their own journey. We know it comes from a place of love and support but ask that you check here for updates instead.

7/16: Here’s an updated as promised from Shane - “Last week was hard because I had stomach issues that actually kept me from working Tuesday and Thursday. Which I’m grateful for all generous donations because it helped ease my mind that bills could still get paid. So thank you, all. On Thursday, I went in and did IV hydrotherapy to make sure I wasn’t dehydrated and they help with rearranging meds to get my stomach under control. So that was helpful.

Something to laugh at was that Friday night and Saturday morning I kept feeling like something was crawling on my face. And I thought I was going crazier than I already am. But when I got in shower and was washing my hair, I realized my hair was starting to fall out. So, I went to the salon and shaved my head.

On 7/19, I have bloodwork and dr appt. If everything is good to go I’ll do my 2nd treatment on Monday. Which means I’ll be moving appts. I have to have no person-to-person contact 3 days after my fusion. I don’t know exactly when. But after the second treatment i will be getting another CT scan to see how the treatments are working. “

To clients-

We are working on a mass text to all clients to give an update and ask:

Please do not come into the salon if you have any symptoms of being sick, even just a sniffle or sneezing. We all like to say and hope that it’s just allergies. But Shane cannot risk getting sick which means we as a team cannot take any chances. If you’re a client of Shane, Joe or Erika PLEASE reschedule if you don’t feel 100

percent healthy. If you come in and any one of us has any hesitation that you could be sick, we will refuse service and send you home. Please don’t put us in that position as we value and respect you as our clients.

Update 7/11: A big THANK YOU to everyone who has donated and shared for Shane. Please continue to share this widely with your networks.

We will have an update regarding Shane for you within the next 24 hours.

Update 7/2: “So treatment day was little scary. Walking into a room where there cubicles enclosed with curtains and nurses and machines everywhere. You get assigned a nurse and she is there to explain and go over everything. The staff is very kind and there to support.

The 6 hours seemed to go pretty fast. The hardest thing is be in a room where at this point in my treatment I seem like the healthiest in the room. Some patient complaining about pain. Some patients younger than me in wheel chair. It’s def a lot to take in and realize that what you’re actually doing to your body to get rid of something bad. A lot to absorb.

After treatment I felt strong from the steroids but they let me know that would happen. The 2nd day I slept and tried to eat small meals and drink a little of fluids. But had a lot of nausea. Today is 3 rd day and I’m very anxious. Not very hungry or thirsty which is hard to force myself to eat and drink. I’m going back to work tomorrow. But I might have to make my schedule be half days if I can’t get the anxiety under control. But all I can do is say one day at a time.” - Shane

I am starting this GoFundMe for Shane because we know he needs our support both mentally and financially. We also know Shane doesn’t ask for help so, when he was willing to accept this, it speaks volumes. The goal is to alleviate the stress that comes from being a small business owner in the middle of a major health battle. Thank you for your support! Please feel free to share this GoFundMe widely within your networks.

The Story: Shane learned that his previous cancer wasn’t rare but the way it presented in his body was. There wasn’t enough research on it so, his oncology team decided the best way to monitor was to do a series of scans three times a year. Unfortunately, in April of this year, one scan came back showing there was new activity on his lungs. After more scans and finally a biopsy, the result was a diagnosis of lung cancer.

The Good News: The cancer was caught early because of the close monitoring. This increases the positive odds. Shane starts chemo/immunotherapy on June 30. This is a six-hour fusion. He’s scheduled for four but the team is hopeful he will only have to do two! This type of cancer has a primary source, which has not been found. There simply isn’t enough research on why this happens with this type of cancer. Doctors are hoping that with the chemo/immunotherapy treatment it will also address the primary source of the cancer.

Work Impact: the team is strongly suggesting Shane take two days off work after each treatment is finished. Treatments are supposed to be held three weeks apart but this may change given many medical factors. The team will be doing a series of MRI’s and CT scans during treatment to see how effective it is. Shane will not know his next treatment till the week of. Unfortunately, he is unable to plan ahead with his schedule.

Shane asks that everyone please be patient if treatment happens to fall on a week you are scheduled. He will be trying different schedule options to see what he can physically handle.

The Requests: We ask you email (contact me if you need the address as it won’t allow us to post here) if you have any questions about an appointment or booking one. Roots is committed to replying to your email within 24 hours. We ask that you email as it will be the easiest and fastest way to answer any questions or concerns.

Please do not text Shane about scheduling. He will not be responding to work-related issues while he is off for the 3 days of his treatments. He may not be responding to his phone at all during treatment depending on how he feels.

Notes: Please know that Joe will be busy with his own clients, will not be able to help while he is working, and will be trying to support Shane as best as he can.

We will post the dates of Shane’s treatments as soon as he has them. Shane will reach out to reschedule you ASAP, that way he can relax and focus on recovery from his treatment days.