hi, my name is

Jason Swope

I was born on June 13, 2001, making me 20-years-old today!

I was just 2-years-old when at a regular checkup the doctor noticed that my liver was somewhat enlarged. They sent me for an ultrasound the next day and then to Hershey the following day. After CT scans, my family was put in a room with a Pediatric Surgeon, Oncologist, and a Social Worker. The Surgeon turned on the light with my scan in the background and said, “Here is your son’s tumor”.  Just like that my family and I’s life was turned upside down.

I was scheduled immediately to come back the next day to have surgery to have a Broviac placed so they could start Chemotherapy on the weekend. I had six rounds of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. It was too large to simply do surgery on because it was approximately the size of a grapefruit.

The tumor responded well to chemotherapy, however, I still had problems with weight loss and other issues that landed me in the hospital time and time again.  There was one stretch that I was in for over a month straight.  After the tumor was down to the size of an egg, I had surgery and was home within a week of having two-thirds of his liver resected.

After some recovery time, I had two more rounds of chemotherapy just in case there were still cancer cells in his body.  After about an 8-9 month battle, I was done with my treatment and relegated to monthly testing at Hershey, which gradually went to every other month, to every six months to yearly. I have now been cancer-free since Feb-March of 2004 (over 18 years)! The only thing I have to deal with every day is some hearing loss, for which I wear hearing aids.

Support Me and My Family

If you would like to donate, be sure to donate under the general organizations and designate Berks Organization #77. Thank you!

Address

2080 Tulpehocken Road
Reading, PA 19610