Sallee Family
114% funded
100 % of your donation will go directly towards the cost of supplying the Sallee Family with Meals!!
Rick and Susan Sallee live in Lexington and have been married 25 years and have 3 children. Tripp(20) attends WKU, Jake (14) attends Dunbar, and Kate (12) attends Summit Christian Academy. Rick is the Athletic Director at Anderson County High School, and Susan is a Registered Dental Hygienist. January 2016, almost exactly 4 years ago, Rick had tremendous pain that landed him in the ER with what he thought was kidney stones. After CT scans and tests, a 7mm kidney stone was confirmed, no wonder he was in such pain! They also found 2 masses in his liver and referred him for further testing . After many more tests and biopsies, CholangioCarcinoma was diagnosed. CC is a rare, although growing in numbers, Cancer of the Bile Duct. Most patients die within 6 months of diagnosis, and it has a 5%, 5 year survival rate. Rick’s had spread from the bile duct to the liver, where he had a baseball size and a golf ball size tumor. He had ZERO symptoms from the cancer, so he was blessed to have it detected so early . Thus began 2 years of multiple surgeries and several chemo treatments that could not stop the cancer, but thankfully there was no spread outside the liver.
Summer of 2017 the Sallee’s were referred to MD Anderson in Houston Texas to see the top Cholangio Carcinoma oncologist. Immunotherapy was started and worked really well at holding off the cancer spread for about a year with very few side effects, and then growth started to occur.
Summer of 2018 Rick started the first of several clinical trials which have been very hard on his body with many different side effects. Even though he is in pain, Rick has continued to work to support his family. He had to fly to Texas weekly, and then bi-weekly when on these trial drugs which was very draining on him.
This Fall there were currently no trials available so Implanted Radiation beads were planned which he received locally at Central Baptist in December . Rick will return to MD Anderson in February to see what new clinical trials may be available for him . The only cure for CC is surgical removal which had been done twice already and the cancer immediately returned, so he is no longer a candidate for Liver resection .
The Sallee family have been so blessed through these difficult years by so many people and credit God for providing for and sustaining their family. Ricks wife changed their families’ personal care products, cleaning products and meals to be cleaner, less toxic and more nutritional and started following Bailey @SimplySissom years ago for easy and delicious healthy meal options.
The Sallee’s are so thankful to be the recipients of such loving kindness and deliciousness!! Having meals ready to go allows for more family time, less stress and a freezer full of food when grandparents and friends need to stay with the children so Rick and Susan can travel to Texas for treatment.