Donate

If you would like to donate money to help with my personal fight against terminal brain cancer, I will be forever grateful.

Donate Online

You can donate easily online through PayPal. Click the button below to donate. You do not need to have a PayPal account in order to do this.

or Write a Check

If you prefer doing it the old-fashioned way, you can make out a check to:

Tina Maudsley

and mail it to:

2058 Palifox Drive NE
Atlanta, GA 30307

Tina and I are fortunate to have a great support network. The assistance of our friends, families and neighbors has been an invaluable help throughout my cancer ordeal. Rides when I couldn’t drive; donated airline tickets; home cooked meals; moral support; the list goes on. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity.

Why I am accepting financial contributions

We all hoped I would overcome this cancer quickly so we could get back to a “normal” life. But GBM is a beast. I haven’t been gainfully employed since my seizure in August 2011. The cancer is debilitating enough. Add to the mix chemotherapy, radiation and a regimen of drugs and it’s just not plausible to work a job. Managing medical appointments and treatments is practically a full time job anyway.

It is with reluctance that I ask for financial help, because I know times are tough for everyone. But Tina has also quit her job because the progression of my tumor and statistical data say that we should use our time together wisely while we can.

How much money I need

Honestly, who knows? I’m not destitute. I’m not trying to live extravagantly. I also don’t want to pass up a promising treatment option because it will break the bank for us. There’s no way to predict what this cancer will do next. Experience has shown us that we can count on needing to travel for treatment and incur frequent medical expenses. If you can give, we appreciate it; we will neither squander the money nor take it for granted; and given the opportunity, we will pay the generosity forward.

Regarding Taxes

Unfortunately, your contribution cannot be tax deductible for you. It’s regarded as a “gift.” And it certainly is! Your contribution will not have tax ramifications for me as long as the amount is not over $12,000.00 per donor. So, please try to keep your donations below that! (They say, laughter is the best medicine, so I had to throw that little joke in there for you.)

How the money will be used

Assets and money we have and donations we collect will be used so that I (so that we) can LIVE. Live a long time is what I’m hoping for. Getting cured of cancer so I can work again or so Tina can get back to work. But if those options aren’t in the cards, “live” might mean we get to spend some time together without worrying about bills or necessities.  It could be paying for treatments. To battle such an aggressive cancer may call for outside-the-box measures. For example, we are excited about the DCvax drug being used in Europe. It’s manufactured here in the United States, but is not FDA approved. I can be treated with it outside the country, but insurance will not pay for any of it. Just the cost of getting a custom vaccine made is upwards of $100,000 USD.

We will likely end up participating in more clinical trials. These experimental treatments are really for the advancement of science and future cancer victims. There is a chance they could help me but there is also a risk that they will hurt me. When I took part in the ICT-107 trial, I was disappointed that it didn’t work for me. But I may have gotten placebo. It was a hefty expense for me to participate in that trial, with no benefit to me. So donated funds will also help others and future generations indirectly from my participation.

Other ways to help

Local, hands-on needs of mine are already covered by my family, friends and neighbors. I imagine you can never have too many people praying and sending out positive vibes for you, so I never turn those down!

I can imagine there might other ways too. Perhaps political. There are quite a number of states that have legalized medical marijuana. If a natural plant can alleviate the Hell that is inflicted by chemotherapy, I think that would be preferred to more drugs. Maybe not to the pharmaceutical companies. I think Georgia will probably be the last state to approve medical marijuana.

Anyway, if I think of anything useful, I’ll write a blog post about it.

THANK YOU!