Supporting Mike through Cancer Treatments

Hello Friends ❤️

It is with a heavy and humble heart that I share with you that my amazing husband, father of two, Michael "Mike" is currently undergoing treatments for Stage 4 Mediastinal Mixed Germ Cell Cancer.

Mike has always been an ambitious and passionate chef, with over 15 years professionally under his belt. Those who know him were always able find him doing what he loves as the Head Chef & Kitchen Manager at Bobbie's Cafe. 

In January of this year, he began to experience symptoms of extreme fatigue especially while in the kitchen to the point of dizziness; something he didn't understand why he was experiencing as the Kitchen has always been his home away from home. He brushed it off assuming the just needed some time off as his schedule and nature of his work was very demanding. But things became harder to ignore as days passed and he began to notice a slow but steady loss of strength in his right arm.

As any persistent person would, he pushed through the symptoms but coming home a fatigue I had never seen in him before.

One night, shortly after a dinner meal his right arm began to spasm uncontrollably something we had never seen and terrified we rushed to the closest ER where we discovered a mass over his left lung. He was sent home only with a diagnosis, to await further instructions, no medications, or ways to manage his symptoms.

As we waited and the days passed, he began to experience paralysis to the right side of his body. His arm and hand we're entirely limp and each day it became harder for him to walk or even lift a foot. The muscle spasms became relentless and now he was suffering from unbearable headaches.

At the peak of the Texas Snow Storms, we found ourselves making our way to a different hospital as he could no longer bear the pain of his new symptoms and the more in depth scans detected a brain tumor, the reason for his paralysis, spasms, headaches and more.

Since the tumor was causing damage to the nerves, surgery to remove it was urgent and without time to even process his diagnosis he was rushed to St. Luke's hospital and prepped for surgery within the days that followed.

His craniotomy was successful and with some physical therapy he regained mobility and function of the right side of his body (though his arm so far has not fully restored to normal). 

Though the brain tumor was removed, he still has a mass to deal with and has been undergoing very agressive treatments with the hopes of shrinking the mass down small enough to have it resected towards the end of this year.

As we dive into research ourselves we are hoping to take an optimize his health as much as possible by adding an integrative approach  including holistic medicine, acupuncture, nutrition, herbs, and other alternatives to modulate his immune system paired with his current treatments and ensure a strong and steadfast recovery.

So far Mike has completed two rounds of treatment and it is still too early to determine the progress he is making.

Unfortunately, a side effect of his craniotomy as well as the chemotherapy treatments is that Mike now suffers from seizures that in his current fragile state could be very dangerous without urgent care. 

We've had several visits to the ER to stabilize and monitor him after a seizure while doctors work hard to manage these side effects within the ability of his chemo treatments.

In all this, we've been very blessed and thankful to have made it this far financially and are able to recieve some other government benefits for medical and food but without his income and the need for my round the clock care and support, the extra expenses we incurred in this new chapter of our life's, funds are almost tapped out and we are still patiently waiting for his disability benefits to be reviewed and approved.

We are seeking support from our loved ones to assist us with the following:

• Integration of holistic medicine and nutrition to support his healing process.
• Supplementation of income to help get us by until disability application is approved.

My prayer is that we will be able to take some financial stress off of Mike's shoulders so that he can focus on what's most important, which is rest and mind + body healing during this incredibly difficult time.

All donations will go directly to Mike's treatment and our expenses while we navigate this road to recovery together.

If you are unable to contribute anything at this time, please share this fundraiser with your networks.

I love and adore this man immensely and we are endlessly grateful for our support system that is helping us survive this.

Mike is an inspiration and a true warrior, and together we are holding the vision that through compassion and community we will come out of this journey even stronger.