Pat Vs. Cancer : The Documentary

What is Pat Vs. Cancer?!

One year ago I walked into my final round of chemotherapy for stage three colon cancer with a camera crew, determined to make a documentary about my experience. Today I am cancer free, but still fighting to finish the project.

Below is the teaser for the documentary that all of you helped me start to build! Colorectal cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths in America with a disturbing rise in people under forty, but it’s also one of the most treatable cancers out there when caught early. So guess what?! This is a problem we can fix!

Please watch, comment and share to help us start the conversation. You can also donate, and  start saving some a$$es today!!    







Don't know me? Here's how it started. This post is from June 11th 2018...

A QUICK INTRODUCTION
My name is Patrick Moote. I am an actor and a filmmaker, and I live in Hollywood, CA. Like most self involved people in my line of work, health and fitness have always been very important to me ( #ClicheActorStuff). I'm not a wellness guru or anything, but I take pride in taking care of myself. Not only do I exercise, but I also keep a healthy diet. I ran my first half marathon in May, and I even went gluten free (only for like a week, and I was super humble about it). At 34 years old, I was undoubtably in the best shape of my life. So you can imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed with colon cancer on May 20, 2018...



WHAT IS GOING ON?
At almost the same time I received that I received that  terrifying news the American Cancer Society lowered the age they recommend a colonoscopy from 50 to 45 years of age due to the rise in cases like mine. At my age this type of cancer is very rare, so I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the doctors to perform the procedure; an awkward thing to have to practically beg someone to do but I digress... When I woke up from the procedure the doctor told me he had discovered 9 polyps in my colon (uh, say what?) eight were removed, but the last one  wasn't willing to cooperate. When then biopsy came back several days later my fears had been confirmed (well kind of, I though the worst case was Crohn's Disease... I was way off ). I was diagnosed with a disease that isn’t commonly even looked for until late your 50’s. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Is this some kind of awful coincidence, or am I another statistic in a very alarming trend???   

It's still hard to believe. It's even harder to say the words, "I have cancer". It always sounds like a death sentence, and in some cases, it is. Thankfully for me, it's not. I caught it early enough that what I need to do now is decide - what kind of treatment? A simple question to answer on the surface, but it's really far more complicated with real long term consequences. So far I have had opinions range from, “you have one terrifyingly drastic option” to “you have all the options in the whole wide world”. I am not sure which of those options scares me more, but I know that my real fears lie in making a decision before I have all the facts. The only thing I know for sure is that every doctor I have talked to so far says that I need surgery to take care of this, and I need to do it soon.



WHAT I AM GOING TO DO??
From past filmmaking experiences ( @UnhungHero  #ShamelessPlug ) I know that allowing an audience to closely follow a personal journey is a great way to help them confront some of their own fears. Knowing that, I already started to document this journey before I was even sure what was about to come. My goal is to share this experience as I navigate a very confusing and overwhelming landscape of doctors, hospitals, and insurance claims. I am going to talk to friends, family members and others who have found themselves victim to the same disease. I will interview doctors and medical professionals, investigate potential causes to try and shed light on why this silent killer is taking the lives of so many more young men and women than ever before. I am going to do everything in my power to make this experience a positive one because, well, that’s just what I am going to do.



HERE'S WHERE THE MONEY WILL GO                             
The funds raised will be used first to cover my medical, and recovery expenses. The rest will be used to get the documentary started as I begin this very overwhelming journey. I'm sure that there's no need for me to explain how expensive health care can be. Even with decent insurance coverage a procedure of this nature, and the following month plus recovery is not going to be cheap- I wish I could put an exact number on it, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that- at this point all I know for sure is that the bills are going to start to pile up, and it adds up fast. I have a basic idea, and the amount that I am asking for reflects that. As far as the documentary is concerned, my brother and I started a production company last year and have all the means to document this journey on as small a budget as possible. With that said there are expenses involved in every production that need to be covered. We would also like to make sure we have funds put away in case of an emergency. Any funds not used for medical expenses, or to help see this project through will be donated to cancer research.


There are two things that scare me most in life; the first one is asking for money, and the second one is cancer… in that order. I only say this to let everyone know how hard this is for me, and how much I appreciate any help anyone is willing to offer. Some of you I know. Some of you I do not. Some of you can back this financially, and some only in positivity and spirit. It all helps in raising awareness, and I want you to know how much the support means to me. I am calling this project "Me Vs. cancer", but for anyone to get through this it is "WE Vs. cancer".