FUND RAISER & LEAVE DONATION THREAD FOR FREEPER JEFF HEAD

Jim Robinson, the owner of FreeRepublic has graciously approved this Fund Raiser and Leave Donation thread that a number of us wanted to put together for well-known Freeper, and our friend, Jeff Head. (Moderators, please consider keeping this thread at the top of its category until the goals are reached.)

In December 2009 Jeff was diagnosed with bone cancer. A rare sacral chordoma was found on his sarcum. His only medical recourse is very major and dangerous surgery to completely remove his sacrum and then rebuild the structure. The two surgeries necessary are currently scheduled for April 27th and April 30th, 2010. This surgery will require a four month period of hospital stay, recovery, rehabilitation, and radiation at the MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas, which is 2000 miles away from Jeff's home in Idaho.

Any freeper who can, and who will not themselves be put out either financially or from a leave basis by so doing, is aksed to consider donating so as to help Freeper Jeff Head through this crisis. Your faith and prayers on behalf of Jeff and his family are also requested. There are two ways to help, monetarily and with leave. will track the donations here on this thread against the goals.

Jeff has good medical insurance, but the four month stay in Houston is going to require significant expense beyond his means including an apartment very close to MD Anderson with handicap services and gated for security. His rehabilitation will be a major effort and will not come cheaply, either in terms of pain and effort or cost. Jeff has an additional $1,000 per month he is applying in addition to maintaining his household in Idaho while he is gone. But for he and his wife Gail to stay in Houston for the four months is going to cost between $2,200 and $2,500 per month more than he has.

If you are willing, and able, you can donate funds to Jeff to help him while in Houston at the following link, either by PayPal, Credit Card, or by Check to the address indicated.

Any funds left over after Jeff's rehab will be donated on a 50/50 basis to the Chordoma Foundation which is a non-profit group dedicated to research and education about Chordoma Cancer, and to Freerepublic.com.

Jeff works for the US Bureau of Reclamation helping produce electricity and irrigation water for our nation in the intermountain west. And Federal Employee can donate leave to Jeff. Emploeeys of the Department of Interior should use the following PDF form:

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Pacific Northwest Regional Office
Attn: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Coordinator, PN-7425
1150 N. Curtis Road, Suite 100
Boise, ID 83706-1234

This leave can only be used for the medical emergency and any leave remaining at the end of Jeff's medical emergency will be returned on a pro-rated basis to those who donated it.

Jeff has been keeping and posting a journal of his experience for as long as he can at the following two links:

If you want to understand Jeff's political, moral, and constitutional beliefs, which are very well published here on FR and around the web, use the following three links:

Jeff has also created a very popular Youtube video you most certainly will enjoy watching and which should be spread around in any case:

24th Entry Saturday, April 17, 2010, 10:30 PM

Well, here we are back in Houston.

It was a real struggle getting down here. The day before we left I had to go into the hospital in Boise with a severe sickness...they think it was either a severe case of stomach flu or some type of infection. It really threw me off my mark. I wondered whether I was going to be able to make it down to Houston at all. On Sunday (last, 4/11) I felt a little better and we scheduled to leave Monday after they released me...but then Monday morning I felt much worse again. Hot and cold...sweating one moment freezing the next. Couldn't eat. I finally had to tell the Dr. I didn't think I could be released Monday and that was a real blow. So much tiome and effort had been put into the upcoming surger schedule and medically, that surgery was the path to a potential medical treatment that could alleviate this cancer.

But as always, everything is in God's Hands. We do our best and then wait upon His will to be revealed and it is up to us to acknowledge that will and its goodness.

But then, a though from above, came into my mind to remember the lesson I learned earlier in this entire episode about anxiety and depression and I asked the Dr. about it. He indicated he supposed some of my latest symptoms could be related to that and so he called one of the oncologists and talked to him about my tumor and its impact. It was Dr. Zuckerman whom we had originall talked to in Idaho there in Meridian, St. Luke's. He agreed.

So, they proscribed some concoction to address the anxiety and within the hour I felt MUCH better. They kept me around for 2-3 more hours and then released me. Gail and I left that aternoon.

We drove all the way across Amrica again. The last day I felt pretty bad and Gail; drove...but it was miraculous that we were able to get away that MOnday and ultimately arrive here in Houston.

We had been and continue to concer ourselves with finances. What we have taken from savings, borrowed, and what has been sent to us (and thank you o all from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness and generosity), did not seem like it would cover they types of needs I would be having after the surgery during the long rehab.

We were going to start just staying in the hotel across from MD Anderson but did not think we would have the funds for that entiore time. Then, literally, as we drove into the Houston City Limits, we got a call from a place we had put ourselves on several months ago for a waiting list. Faith Lutheran Church has a ministry outreach to cancer patients at MD Anderson. They maintain a house with six rooms that share commom eating and common areas with individual rooms and bathrooms. We did not feel to good about that particular arrangement, particularly when I would be in the hospital and Gail alone for that month, and then also for the type of facilities I will need after surgery.

But they also have two complete apartments, ground level, fully-handicapped outfitted and secure entries within their own church parking only 3 1/2 miles from MD Anderson. That was what we had hoped for when putting in on that list...but there are only two of them and they are so needed by so many. Well, as we drove into Houston, one of those very apartments had come up and was available. We literally drove there, signed the paper work and are now in one of those at an unbelievably reasonable rate.

I am huimbled beyond words...the Lord's Hand is in this, for His purposes, and I confess it to all...to show His hand in each of our lives is enough.

We hope to be able to stay here the whole time but will have to see. As it is the good Lord answered our prayers and the prayers fo so many othes in this travail.

Now we have a VERY busy week full of tests meetings, scans, etc. By Wednesday or Thursday we should know if any other cancer has developed. As you can imagine we are anxious about that...but also know that it is in the hands of our loving Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. If none has developed, then a week from Tuesday I will embark on the daunting course of the major surgeries, long recovery, long rehab, and proton radiation in an effort to medically treat and halt the cancer.

I will try, as I am feeling up to it, to get back on these updates later in the week and then just before suregery once again.

And...once again, our heartfelt thanks to all who are praying for us, encouraging us, helping us, and exerting their faith on our behalf. Our words cannot express our feelings, but our hearts can and we love you as brothers and sisters in Christ and children of our mutual Father in Heaven.

In Christ,

Jeff

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