On April 2nd Steve Fenton was taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital because he was spitting up blood. Once there they saw his left tonsil was very swollen and blocking half of his throat. They done a CT scan and saw there was a mass and cancerous lesions. They referred him to Iowa ENT to have a biopsy. The following week they met the EnT doctor who done a biopsy and unfortunately those results came back positive for squamous cell carcinoma. The ENT doctor referred him back to Mercy Hospital to have a PET scan. Those results came back that he had cancer in his left tonsil. They referred him to The University of Iowa Oncology. On May 30th he went to see the Radiation doctor and Surgeon in Iowa City. The further found out that the cancer has spread to include the tonsil, lymph node by the tonsil, tongue and his palate (roof of his mouth). The surgeon and radiation doctor both informed him that surgery is not recommended at this point. Steve’s recommendation for treat is 7 weeks of Monday-Friday treatments of radiation and chemotherapy combined. When this treatment is over they will do another Pet scan after 3 months. Steve will require a feeding tube and chemotherapy port. He will have to go to Iowa City 2 days this week to get testing and prepare for treatments. With all that being said, Steve will be living away from home, traveling to Iowa City daily for treatments and will not be able to work for at least the next 3 or more months. Steve’s wife will be working as much as she can remotely but will be missing a good amount of time as well making sure he makes his appointments, treatments and taking care of him.
Any money raised will go to help pay for travel expenses, extra medical expenses not covered by insurance and monthly bills.
From myself, Steve & Amanda we cannot thank everyone enough for everything and all of the support. We appreciate you all!
