My name is Danielle Carman. I have been a family friend for many years. Sally and Jerry welcomed me and my family to San Angelo about 6 years ago. Watching this family battle Jerry's cancer for the past 5 years has been heartbreaking. Many have reached out and asked how they can help in any way. Funds received will be used towards Jerry's funeral expenses and bills to help ease the family's expenses during this time.
Jerry's Recent History….
Words from Sally Hawthorne
So most of the time I very rarely post anything on Facebook about my life and what's going on. But as I write this today, I would like to ask all of my family and friends here to say a prayer for my husband, Jerry, and our family. For example, in 2017, Jerry was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, located in his left armpit. Immunotherapy was started immediately and all lymph nodes were removed. Only one of the 26 lymph nodes had the melanoma markings. He went into remission in April 2018 and has been in remission for almost 4 years. In January of this year he called me and said he had a headache and couldn't drive. He was taken to the emergency room, where he underwent CT scans, MRIs, blood work, and various tests to see what was causing his pain. He found he had a lesion on the left side of his brain that was causing hemorrhage. He had a craniotomy on January 5 to stop the bleeding and remove the lesion. The lesion was sent to pathology to be tested for melanoma. It turned out that the melanoma had made its way to the brain and was considered BRAF positive. He was on chemo meds and 5 rounds of radiation.
All was going well until the week of November 14, just days after his 50th birthday. Jerry wasn't acting like himself, we thought maybe he was just tired. We celebrated his 50th birthday at home on November 18th. On the 19th I definitely noticed that he wasn't acting right. It felt like he had had a stroke. Our daughter had to call 911 and he was taken to the emergency room. Once in the ER, all of the same tests that had been performed on him earlier in the year were redone. This time they found another lesion on the right side of his brain that had caused bleeding. Not only did he have this lesion, he had multiple lesions that were smaller than the one that caused the bleeding. On November 20, he had another craniotomy to stop the bleeding and remove the lesion. They decided he had a stroke and would stay in the hospital for a few days and then move to rehab to work with the physical, occupational and speech therapy. His oncologist had also referred him to MD Anderson. He was discharged from the hospital on November 25 and admitted to Encompass Rehab the same day. On December 8th he was allowed to come home from rehab. On Sunday the 11th it appeared he had developed a stomach problem. He couldn't keep anything down and continued to do so until Tuesday morning when he was able to keep water and biscuits down. Home Health came to check on him on Wednesday. After getting his vitals and trying to talk to him, she decided he needed to be taken back to the ER. A CT was done again and all tests were done. dr Cheruku, his oncologist, came in to speak with us and he informed me that the lesions seen three weeks ago were about 1/2 inch each. The new CT scan showed they increased from 1/2 inch each to about 1 1/2 inches in just 3 weeks. He explained that he had never seen melanoma this aggressive and wanted him to start radiation right away. After a conversation with the radiation/oncology Dr. they performed 10 rounds of aggressive external radiation. Today was his first radiation day and everything went well. He was up this morning talking and eating all his breakfast which he had slept most of the past few days. I really think the steroids they have been giving him for the past 2 days have helped with the swelling in his brain. Despite being on a liquid diet, he was also able to eat his entire lunch. He was weaned off the liquid diet for dinner and was finally able to eat solid food.
I know this was a bit long but if anyone could keep us and my husband in your prayers that would be greatly appreciated.
I would also like to thank everyone who took the trouble to stop by and ask if we needed anything. Dixie, Danielle, Martha, Esmeralda, Ed, Sebastian. I know I couldn't get through this if it wasn't for you.
These past few months have been some of the toughest days I have endured. As most of you know, Jerry fell ill on November 19th, the day after his 50th birthday. As he had to undergo another craniotomy for the melanoma lesion which resulted in a stroke and multiple lesions throughout the brain. Two weeks in rehab. Only to end up right back in the ER about a week later because the lesions have tripled in size. Then back to another rehab where he was only there 3 days and back to the ER since he had started to deteriorate. About a few days after his hospitalization, he was Jerry again. But then he started having trouble breathing and we found his O2 was 88% and SPO2 was 55. They also showed that he had pneumonia in the lower lobes of his lungs. They began breathing treatments and CPT three times a day. Well, last Tuesday I noticed that he was suffering from breathing difficulties. The nurse came in and gave him 3 liters of oxygen. I had another blood test done and everything looked ok. After the nurse left, he continued to watch him and watched his O2 drop. I called the nurse again. I looked over at Jerry and he had just caught his breath and then nothing. His lips turned blue and he stopped breathing. A code was called and everyone came in and started working on him and then he went into cardiac arrest. They were able to get his heart working again but had to bag him up to the intensive care unit to put him on a ventilator. They did a test on him yesterday to see if there was blood going to his brain and there was none. the dr declared him brain dead at the time and gave the time of death as 2:35 p.m. I was taken to his room and the staff explained what had happened. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do as a wife was to say goodbye to the man I love, the most amazing husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. I stayed with him in the room and cuddled with him until our daughter, his son and his family could manage to come and say goodbye. He was taken off the ventilator and at 6:18 am his heart stopped. Jerry fought a good fight to the end, that's for sure. From everything he had to go through with the cancer he had and the obstacles he went through. Three surgeries, two craniotomy. I guess it's not a goodbye, it's an "I'll see you soon my love".