**Approved by TBH Admin***
Some of you may remember the unbelievable generosity displayed not too long ago in THIS THREAD. Alan Smallwood (Buckshot-73) and his wife Sylvia had a cancer scare and TBH'ers came together to support them financially why they underwent treatment.
Well good old Alan found out recently that another TBH'er and wife are going through hell right now as his 18 year old son fights off stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma (scary name, even scarier illness).
Alan decided to step up and donate the same beautiful knife to TBH'er Brad Luis (hrdwrkncwby76) and wife Julie to help offset some of their numerous bills and expenses. Julie's son Clayton has had a serious run of bad luck, and I know from personal experience how expensive this gets (even when you have insurance). Deductibles, copays, traveling expenses, medicines, parking, missed work, meals away from home, etc.) add up quickly and consume what little extra money you have.
That's where the generosity of TBH comes in. There's no other forum like this one. Covering each other's back in times of need has been a long standing tradition here.
*****************************
Some info on Clayton, Brad, and family:
Facebook Group: "Clayton's Crusaders"
Clayton Dalton is an 18yr old Senior at Round Rock High School, he is active with the ROTC Jr Marine Corps program; and always had hopes of serving in the military and becoming a police officer.
Clayton suffered random back pain from Thanksgiving, until approx. 1/17. It would come and go, and then we took him to the dr for severe pain. The dr determined he had a broken vertebra on his T6. Little did we know, this was critical and pushing against his spinal cord. Most teenage boys are very active and tend to rough house. After being blown off by an orthopedic Dr, I decided to get a 2nd opinion from a spine specialist. My thoughts were, "a man without his back, can't be a strong man". And, if he had issues at a later time in life, he'd have baseline knowledge of what is going on with the back.
After an MRI, the spine dr contacted me the following morning with the news that Clayton had metastatic disease (spread) up and down his spine. What we knew at that point was the cancer was on almost every vertebra and he needed further tests.
Clayton was taken for a CT scan and then to the Children's Oncology at Dell Childrens, where his journey began. After a series of tests we had a name, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Stage 4.
There are roughly 20 tumors on his skeletal body but it originated in his pelvis with his largest tumor approx. the size of a baseball.
This is an aggressive cancer of the soft tissue and attaches to moving bones, and is requiring aggressive chemotherapy, and radiation. Surgery is not an option due to major risks including paralysis. Most of Clayton's chemo is requiring hospitalization because it has to be given consecutively over several days at a time. Clayton has completed 21 weeks of treatment, and 2 weeks of radiation so far. Possibly, with more radiation again towards the end of treatment, which could mean the family would have to travel to MD Anderson in Houston.
Around week 19, scans determined the cancer had spread to new spots, and chemotherapy had stopped working. So, now, we are in a holding pattern to determine what the next course of treatment will be.
Clayton is well known in the community and with his peers as a kind hearted, giving person, who always rooted for the underdog. He would befriend children and often defend the ones being picked on. Clayton loves the outdoors, hunting, and fishing.
Brad is recently out of the military as of June 2015 with 21 years of service ( USN 94-98,USNR 98-07,USA 07-15), full time college student and owns/runs a small lawn care business by himself to help make ends meet for the family. Julie is working from home when not caring for Clayton full time to make sure the health insurance doesn't get interrupted.
If you would like to donate directly to the Clayton and family directly (instead of the auction), you can send Paypal Here.
If you would like to participate in the knife auction, see the details below.
*****************************
Description of the knife:
*******************************
To bid on the knife, just post the amount you want to bid below. Who ever has the highest bid at closing time wins the knife and a custom sheath.
Auction starts now and will end at 8:00 PM on Sunday, July 16th.
Some of you may remember the unbelievable generosity displayed not too long ago in THIS THREAD. Alan Smallwood (Buckshot-73) and his wife Sylvia had a cancer scare and TBH'ers came together to support them financially why they underwent treatment.
Well good old Alan found out recently that another TBH'er and wife are going through hell right now as his 18 year old son fights off stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma (scary name, even scarier illness).
Alan decided to step up and donate the same beautiful knife to TBH'er Brad Luis (hrdwrkncwby76) and wife Julie to help offset some of their numerous bills and expenses. Julie's son Clayton has had a serious run of bad luck, and I know from personal experience how expensive this gets (even when you have insurance). Deductibles, copays, traveling expenses, medicines, parking, missed work, meals away from home, etc.) add up quickly and consume what little extra money you have.
That's where the generosity of TBH comes in. There's no other forum like this one. Covering each other's back in times of need has been a long standing tradition here.
*****************************
Some info on Clayton, Brad, and family:
Facebook Group: "Clayton's Crusaders"
Clayton Dalton is an 18yr old Senior at Round Rock High School, he is active with the ROTC Jr Marine Corps program; and always had hopes of serving in the military and becoming a police officer.
Clayton suffered random back pain from Thanksgiving, until approx. 1/17. It would come and go, and then we took him to the dr for severe pain. The dr determined he had a broken vertebra on his T6. Little did we know, this was critical and pushing against his spinal cord. Most teenage boys are very active and tend to rough house. After being blown off by an orthopedic Dr, I decided to get a 2nd opinion from a spine specialist. My thoughts were, "a man without his back, can't be a strong man". And, if he had issues at a later time in life, he'd have baseline knowledge of what is going on with the back.
After an MRI, the spine dr contacted me the following morning with the news that Clayton had metastatic disease (spread) up and down his spine. What we knew at that point was the cancer was on almost every vertebra and he needed further tests.
Clayton was taken for a CT scan and then to the Children's Oncology at Dell Childrens, where his journey began. After a series of tests we had a name, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Stage 4.
There are roughly 20 tumors on his skeletal body but it originated in his pelvis with his largest tumor approx. the size of a baseball.
This is an aggressive cancer of the soft tissue and attaches to moving bones, and is requiring aggressive chemotherapy, and radiation. Surgery is not an option due to major risks including paralysis. Most of Clayton's chemo is requiring hospitalization because it has to be given consecutively over several days at a time. Clayton has completed 21 weeks of treatment, and 2 weeks of radiation so far. Possibly, with more radiation again towards the end of treatment, which could mean the family would have to travel to MD Anderson in Houston.
Around week 19, scans determined the cancer had spread to new spots, and chemotherapy had stopped working. So, now, we are in a holding pattern to determine what the next course of treatment will be.
Clayton is well known in the community and with his peers as a kind hearted, giving person, who always rooted for the underdog. He would befriend children and often defend the ones being picked on. Clayton loves the outdoors, hunting, and fishing.
Brad is recently out of the military as of June 2015 with 21 years of service ( USN 94-98,USNR 98-07,USA 07-15), full time college student and owns/runs a small lawn care business by himself to help make ends meet for the family. Julie is working from home when not caring for Clayton full time to make sure the health insurance doesn't get interrupted.
If you would like to donate directly to the Clayton and family directly (instead of the auction), you can send Paypal Here.
If you would like to participate in the knife auction, see the details below.
*****************************
Description of the knife:
- Made from an old rasp
- Pigtail butt, forged to encircle a pinky finger if desired (first time I have done that).
- Handle is buffalo horn bolster, black and white ebony burl butt
- Bocote spacer
- Mosaic pin in stainless and brass
- Pinned in brass
- File work on blade spine.
- Overall length is 7.75"
- Blade is 3.25"
*******************************
To bid on the knife, just post the amount you want to bid below. Who ever has the highest bid at closing time wins the knife and a custom sheath.
Auction starts now and will end at 8:00 PM on Sunday, July 16th.
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