AARON .COM
TEAM
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
No One Can Prepare For This ...
Imagine if you will, working all day not feeling exactly well and then having a headache so excruciating that it sends you to the hospital.
Imagine doctors saying things like we found a lesion on your brain, your lungs, your liver and not knowing exactly what that means, but knowing it doesn’t sound good.
Imagine over the next several days, hearing words like cancer, metastases, and tumors being passed around. Imagine being in your hospital bed and overhearing doctors saying things like what is the treatment plan or is it just going to be comfort care? Imagine in the blink of an eye your entire world-changing, and not for the better. Imagine that inconceivably things get worse.
Imagine the headache that brought you in grew in such intensity that it required emergency radiation treatment to shrink the tumors that a week ago you didn’t even know you had as you worked on the high rises restoring our city one building at a time.
Imagine that now you have such excruciating pain in your abdomen that it makes the pain in your head pale in comparison. You are rushed in for emergency surgery on the abdomen. Now the tumors you didn’t know you had a week ago, grew through your intestines and ruptured them.
Imagine your family being called to your bedside because the doctors don’t think you will survive the weekend, but they don’t know your spirit's tenacity or what you are made of and you fight on, and rally. Things couldn’t possibly get worse, but incredibly they do. Now your legs begin to feel numb. Imaging shows a tumor on your spine. You are sent for emergency neurosurgery to another hospital, and yes incredibly things can and do get worse. Surgery is not an option. Hopefully, this will not be permanent, but no one can say for sure…
It’s hard to imagine that in less than a week you have gone from a virile strong construction worker to a bed-bound patient in a hospital fighting for your very life. And this is just in the first week of being diagnosed with Stage 4 Melanoma Cancer.
No one can ever be prepared for this....
It has been a very difficult and eventful six months. Aaron and Toni have faced many life-threatening moments with dignity and courage.
Aaron has now had 5 immunotherapy treatments. At a recent doctor visit, the doctor was very excited and told him the cancer has responded far better than they anticipated, which was very good news. He is however suffering complications brought in by the paraplegia. Specifically a serious bone infection at the pressure wound site. This is causing much discomfort and the inability to keep food down is causing a serious protein deficiency. Aaron’s current treatment plan is continued monthly immunotherapy and round-the-clock IV antibiotic therapy to treat the infection.
Hopefully, this infection will respond to treatment as well as the cancer has so Aaron can be back on the road to recovery.
With the donations to TeamAaron, they were able to purchase a wheelchair-accessible van to go to the many doctor appointments, pay for the insurance deductible for immunotherapy, pay bills, and purchase some physical therapy equipment.
Aaron and Toni would like to thank each of you for your, prayers and support throughout this difficult time. It means the world to them.
March 2021 Update
Support Team Aaron with a variety of ways to donate.
Learn more about how your donations are specifically making a difference in Aaron's life.