Tony’s Fight Against Multiple Myleoma Cancer

Thanks for visiting Tony’s page. My name is Amy, and I am his younger sister and have created this page on his behalf. Tony and his family could really use our help right now, as their life has been faced with this new diagnosis.

If there’s anything I know about Tony, he is a man of few words and some of you may not even be aware of this current chapter in his life.

How it started:

January 2023 he went to the hospital due to chronic and severe back pain. While there, some of his blood work and imaging came back abnormal, with a form of cancer as a possibility. For the next 11 months he endured the chronic back pain, spine biopsies, physical therapy appointments, and more specialist and doctor appointments. Tony and his family endured a rollercoaster of emotions as his appointments were inconsistent with the ‘why’ behind his pain, abnormal blood work, and abnormal imaging.

Dec 2023, the same hospital now diagnosed Tony as having spine cancer. Tony and his wife decided a second opinion, with Northwestern, would be the best bet. Luckily, Northwestern was able to get Tony in almost immediately. Through their own imaging, biopsy, and blood work they diagnosed Tony as having Multiple Myleoma. Multiple Myleoma (MM) is a terminal cancer, as there is no cure. There are only ways to manage the cancer. MM is a blood cancer, that affects the bones-typically the spine (he has a great deal of pain there), ribs, legs, etc.

Feb 1st, 2024 he had a procedure to insert a foam cement into his spine to help the pain, and lessen the likelihood of the cancer continuing to eat away at his spine.

Feb 6th, 2024 he began his chemo injection shot. Unfortunately, later in the evening he had an allergic reaction. Thankfully, they were able to tweak his medicine regiment for chemo days to avoid reactions. He now receives chemo injections once a week, every Wednesday.

In March, he will have an appointment to discuss stem cell transplant (where they use his stem cells). If he is able to undergo stem cell treatment, he will need a support person with him the entire three weeks he is hospitalized (per the hospital). The reason behind that is due to the physical and emotional toll it will take on him.

A medication he needs, before the stem cell treatment, if approved by insurance will cost him $6,000 for 28 pills. If insurance does not approve it, it will cost $20,000 for 28 pills. He applied for a special medical grant to help with costs, but it has to get approved and is not a guarantee.

As you may know, Tony’s youngest daughter, Dixie, was born with Spina Bifida, and has had to undergo 13 surgeries in her life thus far. Due to the high needs of support that Dixie requires, Tony has been the only working adult in the house, while his wife has taken care of Dixie and just recently finished furthering her education to become a teacher-she has a job set up for next year (congrats Jess for all of your hard work!).

With all of that being said, Tony’s level of discomfort and pain is increasing. In addition, he is becoming weak and tired from the cancer, chemo, and other medications. His job has been generous enough to work with him during this time, however when he is not working (carpenter), he is also not getting paid. On top of not being able to work as often, his job is extremely physically demanding. This level of work may not be sustainable as his treatment plan continues. The bills are already taking a toll, not including Dixie’s medical bills, and Tony and his family would greatly benefit from our support. Any donation would greatly benefit them, and would truly warm their hearts. If you are unable to donate, please consider praying, sharing the page, or consider offering help in other avenues (gas cards, dinner/gift cards, babysitting, etc).

We are hoping to take part in the MM walk in Chicago on Sept 8th and will provide more details at a later date.

We will provide updates as they occur.

Thank you!