Help Richard Beat Cancer

As of May 2020, Richard was diagnosed with bladder cancer. They found a baseball sized tumor, as well as multiple other tumors in his bladder when the cancer was discovered. That’s when Richard was sent to Wake Forest to begin undergoing treatment.

They found out that Richard’s cancer was at stage 2, and told him that his bladder was going to have to be removed because the tumors had grown into the walls of his bladder. The surgery to remove his bladder also included the removal of his prostate, urethra, and lymph nodes. They also had to remove some of his intestines to build a port that would connect his kidneys to his stoma. The doctors told him that he would have to complete 8 rounds of chemo before his surgery to give him the best chance to beat his cancer.

Richard successfully completed his chemo treatments, and made it through his surgery, but was then told that 3 out of the 15 lymph nodes still had a large amount of cancer. The doctors have now told Richard that he will need to go through an immunotherapy that was just approved by the FDA as of this month (February 2021). This treatment will require Richard to travel to Wake Forest for treatment every 2 weeks for the next year.  If his CT scans and bloodwork look good throughout the year, and after treatment, then Richard will hopefully be cancer free! If this is not the case, the doctors have reassured Richard that they have other treatments to consider.

 As many of you may know, going through all of these treatments takes a toll, and Richard could really use some financial relief.  Please consider donating what you can, and even if you can’t donate, please share Richard’s story!