Medical Overview and Needs

Jacob was diagnosed with stage 3 Osteocarcoma in the upper right mandible.

Treatment consists of 6-8 rounds of chemotherapy and surgery to remove the tumor. Each round of chemotherapy is 6 weeks long and includes 4 different chemo medications. The anticipated completion of chemo is summer 2022.

In addition to Chemo, Jacob has endured several blood transfusions, medication side effects including extreme weight loss, heart weakness and arthymia, permenant partial hearing loss, and constant nausea.

The surgery itself consisted of several procedures including: Total right maxiliectomy Right neck dissection Fibula Free-Flap Septoplasty Tracheotomy Basically during a 12-13 hour surgery they had 3 surgical teams - one to remove most of his jaw/teeth/maxilla/roof of his mouth/under his nose, etc completely. Another team then came in and removed his fibula and reshaped that into a replacement for his jaw and facial structures and a 3rd team worked on his neck and lymph nodes.

You can read more about the type of surgery he had here: https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/mandibulectomy-immediate-mandible-reconstruction-fibula-free-flap?fbclid=IwAR2JtswsxHxM7--RYslL2yOWqTTjG4RlWXWsuwjEQ9KyadN359Gjl4GFk3Q