In November 2023 I lived one of the worst days of my life. I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and at the time the diagnosis was made, the tumor was 5.5 centimeters. At that point, it had been a month since the ultrasounds and CT scans which showed the cancer and the tumor had measured 4.5 centimeters, meaning it is an aggressively growing tumor with over a full centimeter of growth in 4 weeks.
The 5.5-centimeter measurement placed the cancer at Stage One, which has a 5-year survival rate of 95-98%. The turning point is at 7 centimeters (which it most likely has grown past as of this writing in January 2024) in which the classification becomes Stage 2. The 5-year survival rate drops drastically to 73%. Kidney cancer is considered stage III when the tumor is any size and is found in the kidney, nearby lymph nodes, or in the blood vessels and surrounding kidney tissue.*
I live on a limited income and do not have prescription insurance. I am disabled and work part-time, and currently have 8 medications that I take daily. As you can imagine this gets quite expensive and can drain resources quickly. Because of that reason and the upcoming lack of income during recovery, I have started a medical fundraiser on GoFundMe which runs up till the point of surgery, currently scheduled for January 23, 2024.
Any help that you’d be willing to give to the campaign is appreciated and very valuable, as well as any sharing on social media or other platforms you may have access to.
Here is the link if you would be inclined to either donate or share. https://www.gofundme.com/f/cancerrelated-costs-for-kenny-peters?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=coaching_task&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-task&utm_content=share_close
The initial diagnosis was a shock and took a few weeks to get accustomed to saying, and I hope to be sharing my cancer recovery story in February. Thank you to those who have donated and given, and also those who have shared the link. You’ll probably never truly know how deeply touched I am by this and the help given. God Bless you all.
Kenny
