Chad Baker

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January 29, 2019: Chad was diagnosed with stage 3b colorectal cancer. During a colonoscopy, a 13cm cancerous tumor was found. Per a PET scan in February, one lymph node was also affected and a questionable spot on his thyroid lit up on the scan.

We met with specialist after specialist and discussed each “phase” of his treatment: Phase 1 is chemo-radiation each weekday, Phase 2 is surgery to remove his tumor and Phase 3 is 4 rounds of full-dose chemo.

February 2019: Chad began 5.5 weeks of chemo-radiation. He had his chemo port placed, and received infusions of 5FU Monday through Friday. These infusions ran for 24 hours and he received radiation M-F as well.

April 2019: Chemo-radiation is completed early in the month! On April 19th, Chad has a biopsy on his thyroid to further identify what was going on with his thyroid. On April 28th, it was confirmed to be thyroid cancer with surgery coming very quickly to remove his thyroid.

May 2019: We traveled many miles the first week of May from Champaign County to Chicago, to Indianapolis and back to Chicago. Chads thyroid surgery was done May 8th at Rush Oak Park Hospital. He spends 2 days in the hospital and will also complete radioactive iodine treatment at a later date to remove any traces of thyroid cancer the surgery did not remove. He is stage 1 for thyroid cancer.

June 2019: The surgery we have been waiting for his finally here! Surgery will begin at 8am ET (in Indianapolis) and last 6-7 hours. He will have a temporary ileostomy until he has completed chemotherapy. He will spend 5-7 days in the hospital and then we will return home.