Fight For Frank

Story

As many of you already know Frank has suffered severe back and tailbone pain for several years.  Late last summer he noticed an incredibly intense amount of pain that quickly grew to become intolerable and a lump at the end of his tailbone.  Frank made several visits to numerous doctors, chiropratractors, specialists, and even a few late night visits to the emergency room.  He had an array of X-Rays, CT Scans, and MRIs  and FINALLY on May 17th 2023,  Dr.Molina, diagnosed Frank with an extremely rare form of bone cancer, Chordoma of the spine and sacrum. In fact it is so rare only 1 in 1million people are diagnosed with it every year. Ironically enough, I think we can all agree Frank is 1 in a million to all of us.

Due to the severity of Franks prognosis action was quickly taken.   On June 11th 2023, Frank was admitted to Barns Jewish hospital in Saint Louis, MO.  Frank had a cultivated team of 14 surgeons that operated on him for a very long two days. After two invasive surgeries, accumulating a grand total of 25 hours, a tumor the size of a football was deliticatly removed from Franks spine. 

Franks recovery road is not exactly smooth pavenment.  He spent a couple of weeks in ICU and as of today he has been in the hospital 36 long days.  Many things were at stake going into his surgery.  Would the tumor be successfully removed all in one piece, would he lose his eyesight, would he ever be able to walk again?  Many detramental life changing things so many of us often take for granted were quite possibly going to be stripped away from Frank in a matter of 25 hours.  

Franks faith, positve mindset and both his mental and physical strength have been absolutely undeniable! He is taking every day in stride as it is a new gift from God and giving it his all to his recovery. He is learning to walk again. Each day he is making as many steps as he can with the assistance of a walker. As expected he has some good days and an equal amount that are a struggle but he is made of pure good and tough Italian blood and his dedicated parents raised him to fight the good fight and to never give up. Franks determenation is far larger than any football sized tumor!

He is currently staying at St. Joes Saint Charles and more than likely will be there a few more weeks.  As of right now there is not a determined date as to when he will get to go home. There is an expected amount of therapy in the future Frank will need as the days go on. 

For all of you that are reading this I know you are a special part of his life and I encourage you to #fightforfrank every little bit counts and will help more than you know! Sometimes it does take a village and he surely has been blessed with an incredible village of family and friends. 100% of crowndfunding will go to Franks medical bills and 40% of t-shirts. Please visit www.chordomafoundation.org for more information on Franks diagnosis.  Continued prayers and support for Frank.