Friday, November 13, 2009

An old friend needs help!

My senior year in high school, I met some great guys through a friend of mine. We became really great friends with these guys and called them the SJC (south jordan crew). They lived in South Jordan and would come down to Provo to jam with us at the Chump shows. They all went on mission's and Kim and I would write to them diligently every Sunday. We sent them all packages at holidays too! When they were in the MTC we would drive past there on P-day and scream HI to them if they were outside playing soccer. While they were on their mission's I got married and we lost touch. As of late, I have found almost all of them. Today, I was on one of their family blogs, and found a link on the side for our friend Jon. I clicked on it, and I found some very sad news! Jon has cancer, and it is spreading like crazy! I started balling. He is such a great guy and has a beautiful family. I am so sad that this is happening to him.

Today, they got horrible news that the cancer has spread. This is so hard to see happen to him!!

Because of this illness, his family is in need of money to help pay all the medical bills they are getting. I don't usually pass these on, but he was once one of my closest friends. I feel so awful for him, and can't even imagine how awful this is for him and his small family.

Here is the blog address, and a little about the Unander's! http://helpjonandtiffany.blogspot.com

Jon (30) and Tiffany (26) have been happily married for 7 years. They have two adorable children, Maxwell (age 4) and Kenadee (age 1). Jon was recently diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic melanoma. (Find more information about this cancer here.)

About 7.5 years ago Jon had a suspicious looking mole removed from his back. It turned out to be melanoma, a very dangerous and potentially deadly form of skin cancer. At the time they attempted to remove the cancer from the area by removing some nearby lymph-nodes and the mole. They thought they got it all and for the last 7 years his blood work has looked "normal".

5 months ago Jon noticed a small, tender lump under his arm. He waited for it to heal and get better (hoping for the best) but the lump only continued to grow. A biopsy was done and they found out that the lump was actually melanoma; apparently there were some cancerous cells left from the original site and it has now spread (metastasized).

Soon after this was discovered, Jon experienced some tenderness in his leg/groin area and then cancer was discovered in his pelvic bone also. This is believed to be melanoma as well, but a bone sample needs to be taken before that can be verified. The type of cancer that is in his bone will determine how the doctors will treat the cancer.

The outlook isn't great. Even with all of the best treatments (and "best case scenarios") Jon has about a 25% chance of a cure. Jon is a strong person and he is not going to give up! He is an amazing daddy and a great husband and isn't about to leave his beautiful family without a fight. And the doctors have told him that he definitely is in for the fight of his life.

Jon has already had many medical procedures done, with many MANY more to come. They do have insurance but the deductibles and their out of pocket costs are starting to (and will continue to) pile up. We can help this amazing young family by donating money, spreading the word and offering our prayers and support.

Please help however you can!

1 comment:

Kristie said...

That is so sad. And he is so young. And his children are still so young. Such a sad thing to have happen to any family.