Update from Ryan:

Hi all, I wanted to send a health update and what has been happening lately in our lives.

Since the last update, we met with a radiation oncologist at University of Iowa Hospitals. I will be starting high-dose targeted radiation therapy tomorrow. The plan is to get radiation every other day for a total of 3-5 treatments. The side effects are similar to chemo (nausea and extreme fatigue). A different side effect of radiation is a risk of skin rashes comparative to a really bad sunburn. Thanks to our integrative oncologist, we have a plan to combat these side effects. We are grateful to everybody who has given monetary support to our family. Going through health battles, such as my battles with cancer, are so difficult on families financially. With the addition of an integrative oncologist to keep my body healthy while going through treatments, we are being stretched thin because doctor visits and supplements are not covered by insurance.

As we have shown through social media, we have had a whirlwind of a past 3 weeks. The New York Times article about drug shortages sparked various new sources such as NewsNation, Fox News, Good Morning America, and DailyMail to do interviews with Brooke and myself. Our goal is to be advocates against the drug shortage that I faced while finishing chemo. Thanks to Angels for Change and their founder Laura Bray for their help in getting many hospital patients the Cisplatin needed for their treatments.

This past weekend, I had the honor of taking part in the Fight with Flash Crosstown Baseball Classic. For those of you that don’t know Austin”Flash” Schroeder see his story here: https://fightwithflash.org/austins-story. He is truly an inspiration. It was a pleasure to spend some time with Flash’s parents to hear their story and share mine. I was invited to throw the first pitch before one of the games. I made the pitch from the rubber on the mound and it was a pretty good pitch I must say . I also got to share my story with Mediacom channel 22 announcers who were doing the game.

Thank you all again for your support! It means so much to our family.