After 20 years of fighting crime and violence in the South Bronx, retired NYPD Lt. Colonel Eric Dim sold his home and set off with his family on what he planned as a dream adventure.
Instead, Dim and his wife, Louisa, fell into a living nightmare when their 7-year-old son, Derek, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumor.
For the past year, the financially tied couple and their two children have lived in an RV near Los Angeles Children's Hospital where Derek has undergone rigorous testing and treatment.
“I don't know how this happened. He was one day a healthy child and his life changed quickly,” said Dim, 45, a former Marine and co-host of the podcast.
“We haven't given up. We refuse. We have to get up and fight cancer.”
The family was in Bali when Derek began to suffer from a headache. At first, I brushed it off as the local clinic wasn't serious. Feeling something wrong, Dim took his son to the hospital, where a CT scan checked the mass.
The couple, who also had their three-year-old daughter Ellie, put all their belongings behind them and headed to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. However, they stopped by LA, the first city in the United States, to rush Derek to the emergency room. After the family spent a month at the hotel, for three months as a guest at Ronald McDonald House, Dim bought an RV and then pulled it and bought a truck to build the house.
Dyms won 401ks and made the most of his credit card to ensure Derek has what he needs in his desperate bid to save his life.
His inoperable tumor, located beneath an important area of the brain, had little buds from radiation and oral chemotherapy.
After rejecting Derek because Mass grew in a clinical trial, Dim paid $5,000 for a 30-day drug supply. Insurance ultimately covered another drug for $40,000 a month. “It was a struggle to get approved,” Dim said.
DYM will acquire NYPD pensions and urban health insurance, but with $50,000 sharing and out-of-network health costs accumulated. “We have to start from scratch again,” he said of finding funds for future expenses.
Suffering moms and dads take part in research DMG glioma, Frequently fatal cancers attack around 300 children a year in the United States. They consulted doctors from all major children's hospitals and read all the studies.
“They don't have a cure. They don't know how it forms. They don't tell me how he got it,” Eric said.
“I want to know why this is happening to my son and how to fix it,” Louisa added. “The MRI after the MRI, the prayer after the prayer.”
Hoping that alternative treatments might help, she purchased a $4,000 red light therapy helmet and a $10,000 acoustic therapy machine, but the effects on the tumor are unknown.
Using a shunt that drains liquid into his brain, Derek was able to play with the other children and live happily for five months. He enjoyed Minecraft, a video game where he received toy shopping from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
However, his condition has been getting worse recently. Today, the eight-year-old can barely walk, and his right arm remains motionless. Tired, he sleeps all day. Her sister Ellie holds her hand and helps her to feed him.
But Derek faces his ordeal with incredible courage and thumbs, his father said: “This kid is my hero. He is brave. He never complains – it gives me strength.”
As Derek's light-style words spread across social media, Dim is overwhelmed by his support; Thank you for the flood of donations It meant reducing their financial burden.
The GoFundMe page, released by a friend of the week, has so far raised over $154,000.
