FranksFight

Frank Robert Edge was born in Newport, RI in 1974. He would not know then what he would face 37 years later. On a normal day in June 2011 he went into the er for some back pain issues. After tests were done the doctor came in with a whole new demeanor and said “we believe you have cancer”. This would forever change his life. He would no longer be able to be that blue collar worker that he enjoyed being. He would face surgeries and chemotherapy to fix what they said was Stage IIIC testicular cancer. After 4 cycles of BEP my husband was told that “he had beat cancer”. This was in October of 2011 and we could not be any happier. Even though we depleted our life savings know he was free of cancer was worth it. Everything seemed ok however Frank started to feel sick again and had a feeling something was not right.

In March 2012 the oncologist sent Frank for a Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection in Boston. Boston did not schedule the surgery until July 2012. Frank finally found out during his pre-surgery cat scan that the cancer was back and it was aggressive so the surgery would be cancelled. He had gone back to work in November of 2011 and now that would be taken away again. He was set up for 2 cycles of TIP. At the end of these cycles it was determined that Frank needed a stem cell transplant with high dose chemotherapy. A treatment that some do not even live through. On the Doctor’s advice he did the stem cell transplant however it did not work. He went through torture while having the stem cell transplant and is something he would never agree to again. They since decided to try a new regimen of chemotherapy and in June 2013 he was set to do 2 cycles however he only made it through one. He is now considered terminal and has to have a morphine pump at all times to deal with the ever increasing pain. This disease destroys more than the patient, it also destroys the family.

The first time Frank had cancer we reached out to no one however when it came back we knew we had to reach out to someone. We had blown through our life savings with his first diagnosis and were now facing financial issues on top of everything else. We decided to reach out through the internet since the foundations we called could not help us for various reasons. Putting your life out on the internet is not an easy decision but it was the best decision.

Frank created a thread on mma.tv and I created a Facebook page called FranksFight. From there the support just started to pour in. Our original goal for Franks Fight was to tell Frank’s story and get the financial help needed to get through this. Many things are not covered by insurance. As we began to reach out and speak with others another goal began. We wanted to spread the word about testicular cancer and how it needs to be brought to the forefront just like breast cancer. Young men die from this disease and sometimes only because they were too embarrassed to check. I hooked up with singlejingles.com and they sent me pamphlets and shower cards and I include them in every FranksFight thank you letters.