Come Together to Fight Multiple Myeloma
August 19, 2020
Team JL Ambassador, Alexander Hicks, reached out to us for help getting the word out about his former high school rowing coach, Steve Bocchino's, father who is battling Multiple Myeloma. Coach Steve is doing an hour of erging to raise funds, as well as, started a Go Fund Me page to help with his family's medical expenses. We encourage our rowing community to consider donating to help out one of our own!
"Coach Steve (as we call him) taught and perfected a lot of my technique whether it be on the water or on the erg. He never failed to push our crew and me when we needed it most, and always strived for us to achieve new heights. He has coached and rowed for many, many years now, since his high school days to now, and for a rowing community as big as JL to be able to support him would mean a great deal to both his father and himself. Coach Steve a.k.a Steve Bocchino is a wonderful coach and an even better son. If there is anyone who could help raise funds it's you guys."
-Alexander Hicks, 2020 Team JL Ambassador
Hi everyone, my name is Steven Bocchino and I am raising funds in order to help my Dad (Thomas Bocchino III) in his fight against cancer. Last year in September of 2019, my dad was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. MM has many complex characteristics and consequences that even I'm still trying the wrap my brain around. In short, Multiple Myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells. The main features of MM are low blood counts, bone and calcium deficiencies, higher susceptibility to infections, and kidney problems. All of which my dad has had and is still experiencing. He is immunocompromised so the threat of Covid-19 only adds to the risk of his situation.
Multiple Myeloma is a relatively rare cancer form. To give perspective on the rarity of this disease, according to the American Cancer Society, 32,000 individuals a year will be diagnosed with this cancer in the U.S. Unfortunately, due to this rarity, funding for research and treatment for MM is limited and not as far advanced as compared with other cancers.
The treatment that my father has been receiving over the past year has been various types of chemotherapies with some degrees of success and some not so much. Currently, his future treatment involves stem cell transplants. The caveat to this is that he will not be able to receive the transplant for another year and will likely endure more chemotherapy in preparation for his transplant which means he will be in this for the long haul.
These are challenging times for all us, both financially and emotionally, however, any donation amount would be greatly appreciated in covering for out-of-pocket medical expenses and would lighten the burden for our family as a whole. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my father's story. I have left links down below if you wish to read more about what MM is and if you would like to support research for MM by also donating to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
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