Bruce, the older brother of one of my best friends has cancer… and it’s bad.
It’s one of those scary and heartbreaking stories where things are completely fine… until all of a sudden they aren’t.
Where it seems as if the universe, which has gifted you a new job, a new house, and a beautiful family, inexplicably and abruptly has a change of heart and kicks you in the balls and then punches you in the face when you’re hunched over.
Bruce had a nose bleed in May of 2015 that turned out to be nasopharyngeal cancer. He went through chemo and radiation and a feeding tube in his stomach… and the cancer spread to his bones. There is now a tumor in his spine compressing one of his nerves. They are now pursuing experimental treatments and clinical trials.
The costs of all this are staggering. His family is trying to raise $50,000 to help offset some of these costs.
The BJJ Cavewife and I have donated through his gofundme site.
At the time of this writing they are $24,043 short of their goal.
Whether it’s $1, $5, or $10, every little bit helps.
Here is his wife Liz:
Family and friends, near and far,
I thank you all for your non-stop support which has encouraged both Bruce and I to face the many challenges in life especially during moments like these.
We first were informed in November 2015 that Bruce has a very rare cancer called the nasopharyngeal carcinoma that usually is known to occur amongst the Asian people. Symptoms and discomforts started early sometimes in May 2015 with bloody nose and soon a small lump on the side of his neck. The lump became bigger throughout time which he had to undergo a nasal biopsy.
Bruce is a fighter! He’s very stubborn, even the doctors and staff at the Sequoia Regional Cancer Center were a bit surprised by how he was taking heavy doses of chemotherapy and radiation. His neck from the inside out was burnt from all the radiation and had to take food through a tube that was inserted into his stomach.
It took him about 5 months for everything to be completed, and we were told that his cancer was gone from his neck which we were excited to hear. Unfortunately, when he did a new PET Scan a few weeks later, the same cancer has spread into his bones on his left shoulder and on to his lower back bone.
We tried City of Hope, hoping we would have some better news. But, because he was already set up to start radiation, City of Hope has to wait until his radiation is complete and see whether or not a new lesion will have risen. Meanwhile, doctors are working for other options which we were told of other clinical trials that are more focused on T-cells.
Research, tests, experiments, medicines, doctor visit, and everything else has been piling up and in need of desperate assistance from families, friends, and those who can offer any form of help.
If you do not feel comfortable transferring funds through this site, please feel free to private message me on facebook, call, or email me, and I will gladly provide you our mailing address, and/or discuss ways of assisting.
Again, I thank everyone for their time and effort in assisting us with our current situation now. It has been very heartbreaking for us all and especially our little ones. And, I hope desperately and pray that my soulmate heals from all these ugliness he’s enduring! Thank you all, kamagar gad, and kalangan!
Help spread the word!
Click here to go to their gofundme site:
https://www.gofundme.com/2ffz6q4