Team Jerry

Jerry is a 47-year-old loving husband and father of five children ranging from 26 to 15. Jerry once desired to own a restaurant and share his love for cooking with others, but after facing a diagnosis of papillary renal cancer, his goal is to now survive his upcoming surgery and chemotherapy so that he can see his children married and become a grandfather to their children. Jerry desires to spend the remainder of his life free of cancer, but unfortunately he has a long battle ahead. Jerry’s chemotherapy will be based in San Antonio, Texas, which he will need weekly, and travel expenses will quickly add up. Your #TEAMJERRY purchase will go directly to the immediate needs of his family, and every purchased t-shirt gives a direct profit to him.

Jerry was diagnosed with papillary renal cancer in June 2015 and had an emergency radical nephrectomy (kidney removal) to remove a volleyball size tumor. He was given a clean report following the surgery and was told the cancer had not spread outside the kidney. As he returned to his normal daily life, he continued to experience abdominal and lower back pain, which was at first attributed to the surgical incision and healing process. His worst fears were realized in March 2016 when the pain was so severe that he ended up in the ER. After a follow-up CT scan, he was told there was an abnormal growth in the lymph nodes behind the area where his kidney had once lived. It appears to be malignant, but they have been unable to get a good biopsy due to the location of this mass, and he has been told surgery, in addition to chemotherapy, is his only hope to beat this.

Since then he has seen multiple specialists and surgeons and is being cared for by a team of surgeons at University Hospital in San Antonio. He has been off work on short-term disability for months, first due to his initial procedure, and now again to be able to make his appointments and procedures to aggressively tackle this new hurdle. His wife was also let go from her job due to her inability to perform her job during these trying times. These are some of the best people you will ever meet and would give you the shirt off their back if they had it to give. Jerry has sacrificed everything to make sure his children never wanted for anything, and has kept little for himself. This has taken a great toll on their family finances, not to mention the emotional suffering.

Jerry will most likely spend at least two weeks in the hospital after his surgery, and his wife and younger children would like to be there with him. The substantial costs for this trip, along with all of the bills and lack of normal income are very concerning for this family and they could greatly use our help.