My Brain Cancer Journey
Hello, all!
My name is Andrew Lloyd and I have recently had a Brain Cancer Recurrence. I was originally diagnosed with Stage 3 Anaplastic Astrocytma back in February of 2019 and was actually deemed Cancer-Free in December of 2019, as well.
During just the month of February of 2019, I had 2 Emergency Brain Surgeries on 2 separate Brain Tumors within the span of 2 weeks – February 7, 2019 & February 22, 2019. I also had a 2-month span where I had Chemotherapy every single day and Radiation 5 days per week. I did have the month of June of before having 6 heavy rounds of Chemotherapy to finish out the year.
Since then, I have been beyond Blessed enough to live a very full life. I got married to my beautiful wife, Rose, in June of 2023 and we have had the absolute privilege of being parents to our 2-year-old, Theodore, and our 1-year-old, Oliver.
I am originally from Pennsylvania but moved to Florida to finish up my last few rounds of heavy Chemotherapy in 2019. Just over 1 year later, Rose and I met in Florida in January of 2021 and have since then lived in 5 states together while we grew our family and as I grew my professional career.
Over the past 4 years, I have had about half a dozen “episodes” where I lose consciousness along with any muscle control. In my most recent episode, Rose described it to be the scariest one she has witnessed. This led to an immediate move from North Dakota back to Pennsylvania (where I got my initial surgeries, Chemotherapy and Radiation) so that I could get an MRI.
My Neurosurgeon informed me that the MRI showed a nickel-sized tumor growing in the same Surgical Bed where they removed my initial and largest tumor (just under 4 inches in size).
I was able to walk away from my surgeries back in 2019 without any side effects at all and am currently taking a very holistic approach to potentially avoid another surgery.
I am removing inflammatory, sugary, starchy-bread-like foods from my diet and replacing them with healthy, whole foods. I am also supplementing my diet with anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting vitamins while consuming CBD on a daily basis.
During the process of getting MRIs, going to my checkups and even going through other tests suggested by my Oncologist, I have discovered that my insurance does not cover what I presumed it would.
I have already racked up a good amount of hefty amount of bills considering just one MRI costs around $12,000.
Since I had to report my most recent episode in March of this year, health professionals associated that to the previous seizures I had which led to the initial discovery of my brain tumors. I reported this in May so that means that I am not allowed to operate a vehicle until the end of November 2025.
I also have a Fundraiser where I’ll be selling t-shirts with my company brand – Skigh – to raise awareness to fighting Brain Cancer:
All donations of any amount from $5 to $50 will go directly towards paying all current and future medical bills associated with my Brain Cancer Recurrence.
