“The Singletons are an extended family. They took me in like they knew me.
It’s a no-judgement organization. They don’t know who you are or where you came from.And it doesn’t matter. I was perfectly stable and fine until I got hit with cancer, and it changed my whole world from that day.”
Kevin is a Singletons father fighting a very rare form of cancer. At 34 years old, Kevin worked hard as a superintendent in construction to support his two boys as a single dad. Being a young man in his prime, nothing could have prepared him for what was to come.
On a quiet afternoon in October 2018, Kevin fainted and broke his neck falling down in his hallway at home. The fall broke his neck and his oldest son, just 8 years old at the time, found him and bravely called for help.
Doctors were stumped by what could have caused this to happen to an otherwise seemingly healthy, strong young man. After 4 grueling days of testing in the hospital, doctors found a tiny “erosion in the vertebrae” on his neck. A bone biopsy was performed on the C2 vertebrae where a bilateral fracture had occurred. Doctors rushed the pathology and he was diagnosed with a Hi-grade Chondrosarcoma.
Only 115 people in the world have been documented as having this type of cancer – since 1912. There is very little research about it and to make it even more rare, his tumor was found on his spine, not a limb they could amputate as they tend to treat it. The cancer was determined so aggressive, they had to remove all of the vertebrae between his head and his shoulders. They said if he woke up at all, there was a good chance that he would be paralyzed. He had a 30% chance of surviving the surgery.
Exactly one month after his fall, he underwent 15 hours of invasive surgery. The doctors didn’t know if he would make it, but he did.
Not only did he wake up, but to the astonishment of the doctors, he had no brain damage and was not paralyzed.
He is a fighter.
His mom became his greatest advocate and came across information for The Singletons just before Christmas in December 2018. To Kevin’s surprise, The Singletons was able to provide a complete Christmas for his boys. “It was spur of the moment, but they did everything when I couldn’t do a thing.”
“They took me in like they knew me. It’s a no-judgement organization. They don’t know who you are or where you came from. And it doesn’t matter. I was perfectly stable and fine until I got hit with cancer and it changed my whole world from that day.”
“I consider Jody to be a sister. Everyone there. The Singletons are an extended family to me and my boys.”
You can often find Kevin’s smiling face watching his boys have fun at The Singletons events. “They boys always love coming to The Singletons.”
After surgery with clean margins and intense radiation – six times the strength of regular radiation that put him at risk again for paralysis – Kevin was cleared as being cancer free. In September 2019, a new 5mm spot appeared on his lungs and was determined to be untreatable by oncologists.
Kevin quickly turned to alternative medicines and he’s not done fighting. He’s currently using Rick Simpson Oil and has a scan coming up to see how he’s responding. He is always looking into potential options, including clinical trials, treatments overseas, and hoping the alternative treatments will keep the cancer at bay. “I will always have cancer. It’s just the reality. But I need to manage it.”
His number one goal is being there long enough to make sure his boys “turn out to be good human beings.” He says he doesn’t care about anything else. “If I didn’t have my boys, I would have given up a long time ago.”
His fight is not over. And thanks to our community partners, The Singletons will make sure Kevin and his boys don’t have to do it alone.
Kevin, thank you for sharing your story with us. Thanks for sharing your courage with us too. Keep doing what you’re doing, friend.