Family and friends are working to help raise funds to help Alex Harris in his battle against thyroid cancer by hosting a bake sale this Saturday, October 17th at Firestone in the Commerce Square shopping center from 9 a.m. until everything is sold out.
There will be cookies, brownies, cupcakes, candy bags, lemonade and bottled water available for just 50¢ each. Donations are also being accepted and are much appreciated.
All proceeds will be gifted to the Harris family to help them with expenses related to Alex’s treatment such as travel costs and special dietary needs. Luckily, according to his family, all of Alex’s medical bills are covered by insurance. His mother is having to take many days off from work to take care of Alex and help him focus on healing and dietary changes.The Harris family is from Brownwood and Alex is a 10th grader at Brownwood High School. His mother is a surgical tech at Brownwood Regional Medical Center. According to family members, Alex was initially diagnosed with an inflammatory disease called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. While he was undergoing testing and treatment for that disease, the doctors found a large tumor in the thyroid and additionally diagnosed him with Papillary Carcinoma. His sister stated that he had surgery last week, a total thyroidectomy, with hopes the surgeon would be able to remove all of the cancer with just surgery; however the pathology reports stated that not tumor was not able to be removed in its entirety. Alex will have a full body PET scan to determine the location and characteristic of the cancer. He will have to change his entire diet, to remove any iodine intake, which will be difficult to accommodate and quite expensive. He will then have to stop taking his hormone replacement to prepare for radioactive iodine treatment, according to his sister, which will cause his body to face several adjustments related to regulating calcium, potassium, distgestion, and body temperature. Alex’s doctors are confident he will recover and his family believes he is getting phenomenal care at Cooks Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth.
A fundraising page had been set up by family for those willing to help to be able to donate directly to the family’s needs. CLICK HERE to make a donation.
