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Hey All. This is Shelly, Maddhatter's wife. Just wanted to give you all an update on Hank's condition. He has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Non Small Cell Lung Cancer. The prognosis was the worst thing I think I have ever had to sit through in my life. They said if he does nothing (treatment wise) he'll be lucky to be here at year's end. With treatment he will have a 50% chance being with us in 2 years and a 5% chance in 5 years. I think the room was silent for no less than 5 minutes when this was said. This cancer is inoperable due to it has spread, is wrapping the rib cage and is in the bone. He has also developed another tumor on his right temple which has grown pretty rapidly. We are going through scans and mri's and you name it to find where all the cancer has spread and are looking at options for treatment now. The sad thing about all this is that he is unable to get any type of chemo until he has 13 bad teeth removed. They are afraid of infection to these teeth, seeing how chemo tends to lower immunity. So this is the first hill we have to climb before the real battle against this invasive disease can begin. Medical bills and pharmacy bills are unbelievable so we are looking into charities and funding to help us with our utilities and outrageous co-pays. If you have any suggestions for any type of help in these areas, please let us know. We have received some nice donations through my work and other groups so that has been a blessing to us for sure. But please keep Hank in your prayers to combat this thing and prayers for me to stay strong to help him through this. I've never had to deal with anything like this before and just the paperwork, research and the unknowing is so very overwhelming. Keep him in your thoughts and hopefully he will be feeling better soon enough to get back on here for himself.
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