Kobro's Cancer Crew #1

Hey David, I'll be writing updates here to share stories and progress on my cancer treatment (Lymphoma). I'm calling it Kobro's Cancer Crew to keep things light.

If you're receiving this email, you are my family — either literally or like-family.

The first update here is about my past 8 months leading up to the diagnosis and how we caught it. I'll share some more context on the diagnosis and treatment soon (still waiting on a few tests).

My hope is this first update gives you background on why I'm so excited that we know what's going on. It's also such a relief to know that my lymphoma symptoms will be going away soon.

All that said, the past 8 months have been the hardest months I've had.

August '23

It was 3:30am on August 18th, 2023. I laid in bed, wide awake, itching myself. It felt like a consistent stream of new mosquito bites on my legs, arms, chest, and neck.

The next night, the itching returned. We changed blankets, washed our linens, stopped letting Tupperware (pictured below on top of Mikayla) near the bed, and aired out our room. No luck.

Most of the itching was happening at night, so days were manageable.

I figured it would go away on its own.

September '23

It got worse. I started itching myself to the point of bleeding. Then, I'd itch myself more, ignoring the fact there was blood on my fingers.

Here's a few of the dozens of scabs that started to form.

I was conscious and aware of what was happening, and if I really tried, I could stop itching. Unfortunately, resisting the itches took all my attention, so it wore me down quick.

I went to see my Doctor (Primary Care). He thought it could be my Vyvance (for my ADD), so I took time off the drug.

Itching was just as bad.

We thought it could be allergies. So, I started taking some basic antihistamines like Zyrtech. Then I got prescribed stronger antihistamines like Hydroxyzine. Nothing seemed to help.

On the company side of things, we only had about 6 weeks of cash in the bank before I'd need to lay off the entire team. Fundraising was taking much longer than anticipated, and anxiety was growing.

I needed to stay focused at least 14-hours a day, so I started taking a double dose of Vyvance. I'd take one at 9:00am that would last until 4pm and another at 4pm that would last until 11:00pm. Weekends included.

October '23

It got worse. No longer was this just a nightly thing, it was a constant, 24/7 issue. I was keeping up Mikayla too with the sound and movement of my scratching.

I went to see my Doctor again. He sent me to get blood work and all of my labs came back healthy and normal.

I felt delusional.

I went to another doctor who prescribed me a steroid called Methylprednisolone. The steroids helped a bit, but it was only a bandaid. I started taking 40mg of Predisone (another type of steroid). Steroids weren't a sustainable approach, and the scratching continued.

I thought the itches may just be stress and/or OCD.

When I was 6-7 years old I was diagnosed with OCD because I would spit 300+ times a day. I was always spitting — on my shirt, my mom's couch, anything within range. So maybe this was another version of that? Hard to say. Some aspects were similar in the repetitive nature and the "compulsion", but this felt different.

On the bright side, we won our embarrassingly low division men's league. This was my one two-hour period I would consistently take off each week for my self. It helped keep me sane!

November '23

I couldn't sleep, so I tried taking sleeping pills for the first time.

In the war of itching vs. sleeping pills, itching won by a long shot.

I tried:

• Ambien (Zolpidem)
• Ambien extended release
• Halcion (Triazolam)
• Mirtazapine (antidepressant)
• I think a few others...

I tried to drink before bed to knock myself out.

THC gummies didn't help either.

I was still taking Vyvance in the morning, another Vyvance in the afternoon, and now sleeping pills at night.

Rashes started to appear.

We laid off one of our employees.

My co-founder and I stopped paying ourselves, as we went further in debt.

My co-founder left the company.

There was 3 weeks of runway left before I had to lay everyone else off.

Thankfully, an angel investor puts $100k in last minute to keep the company alive a bit longer.

After a particularly intense work week, Mikayla came up to me: "We live together and you haven't acknowledged me in 6 days."

I started seeing a therapist.

December '23

After a handful of sessions, my therapist concluded that this was a form of OCD.

I "subconsciously created this itching as a distraction that I could control because so many of the situations in my life were either out of my control or in an unsteady place."

I thought this made some sense.

Night sweats began. I'd wake up at 3am-5am, covered in sweat.

Sleep was averaging somewhere in the 4-5 hour range. The chart below shows the sleep I needed compared to the sleep I was getting (WHOOP).

Despite my co-founder leaving, I was able to get an investor to "verbally commit" $500,000. This was after ~115 "Nos" from funds and ~140 "Nos" from angels.

Then, I decided to negotiate better terms. I may not have any other options, but I still put my foot down.

Nothing was finalized, so most of December was dealing with lawyers and praying it wouldn't fall through. It was life or death for the company.

Right as the $500k was about to close, I got this email

Thankfully, everything went through.

The largest motivator during this time was commitment to my word — I told employees, customers, investors, and myself that I would get us through this period.

January '24

I started off the year with Covid, followed up with another fever. I could care less though because Intros AI was alive, baby.

Tupperware went poop on our balcony. Then he stepped in the poop. When I let him inside, he was getting poop everywhere, so I needed to give him a bath in this metal tub and get the poop off of him.

I started taking a new drug called Sertraline that treats OCD. It's also an anti-depressant (gotta love a good two-fur).

I trained to Boston to meet with a top immunologist.

They confirm after ~40 mini injections that I don't have any serious allergies.

The doctor diagnosed me with some form of Eczema (which I guess can cause itches without there being any rashes). I started using ointments and taking 4x the recommended dose of antihistamines.

The doctor said: "It's not a question of what you have, it's just a question of why the antihistamines and other treatments you've had aren't working"

February '24

I got a cyst on my neck, so I went to see urgent care (didn't want to make a whole appointment).

While talking to the Doctor, I mentioned a swollen lump under my right armpit that I noticed a few weeks prior. He says it was my lymph nodes and sometimes they get swollen. Usually they go down, but "go get it checked out if they stay there".

Then I saw a dermatologies about the bumps and the itching. She said the itching would likely go away and I should "just wait it out". As for the bumps she said, "keep an eye on em, but guessing they'll shrink soon enough."

I closed a $100k check, and then another $150k check to close out the fundraising round, totaling $1.25M. We went from a 12 person team down to 2 over the course of 18 months, and now it was time to build it back up.

I hired a new team member named Daniel, and we established the first "Intros AI Office" 🤝

March '24

The bump in my armpit grew about 3x larger than it was before. So I sent my doctor a note (no response).

Mom and Dad (thankfully a nurse and doctor) were like, "get an appointment today, this could be lymphoma".

The Nurse I saw sent me to get an ultra sound (see the big two lumps on the screen -- they shouldn't be there).

The doctor wasn't sure what it was, but he ordered a biopsy for the following week. I told them my parents concern and he replied: "It could be lymphoma, but we're not sure yet. It could be a range of things."

I look up lymphoma. One of the most common symptoms was "Severe itching".

I asked ChatGPT for some more details: "The exact mechanism why lymphoma causes itching is not fully understood, but it is believed to be related to the release of chemicals such as cytokines from the cancer cells. These chemicals can stimulate nerve endings in the skin, leading to itching. Additionally, the body's immune response to the lymphoma may also play a role in causing or exacerbating the itching.

In Hodgkin lymphoma, severe itching is one of the B symptoms, which also include fever and night sweats. These symptoms are considered significant in the diagnosis and staging of the disease. Itching in lymphoma can be widespread and severe, significantly impacting the quality of life of those affected."

This catches us up to early March!

We'll pick up here sometime in the next week or so with a fresh update on the Biopsy, CT Scan, and Diagnosis.

Before the last section here, just want to say I'm so grateful that we know what's going on. I'm not going insane and I don't need to live with this itchiness, sleeping pills, double Vyvance, quadruple antihistamines, double prednisone, ointments, and everything else from the past 8 months.

There is a well traveled path ahead, with a clear timeline, and a family (you) who will support me.

I can't emphasize this enough -- Thank you Mikayla for being my rock through all of this. Mom and Dad, can't thank you enough for your support either. My two brothers (Michael and Sam) weren't so bad. For my friends who've been there over the past months (and years), thank you.

Some special shout outs:

• David Luongo for being by my side since day one.
• Matt Rich for the random calls and Georges breakfast.
• Andrew Awad for being there to shoot the shit and a great cup of coffee.
• Neiman Mathew for the walks, talks, advice, and perspectives.
• Michael Ioffe for the top notch meals and jamming on the struggles we've chose.
• Ron Miasnik for always being a call away (for over a decade now).
• Philip Ruffini for researching doctors and trying to get me some top notch care. Mikayla feels threatened by you because of how far you'd go to help.
• Femi Adebogun for dropping everything late night on a Saturday to come have a beer with me the day I found out it was cancer (before we knew it was the more treatable kind).
• Bradley Tramer for always seeing a different angle and the painful laughs.
• Dar & Megan for our group chat and a couch to crash on.
• Devin for her healing magic and knowing what to say.
• Sam Ungerleider for the unconditional support and Paul's burgers.
• Gideon Roell for all the good luck and shenanigans since 2nd grade.
• Tom Cole for getting his butt down to NYC to visit me soon.
• Gary Sheng for taking his birthday to talk about cancer.
• Nisreen for talking about the dark stuff & the memes.
• Jonathan Pierre for all the prayers.
• Kat for coming from the Bronx in order to scare me shitless on my birthday.
• My teammates Peyton & Daniel for being the most supportive biz partners I could ask for.
• My cousins Andrew, Kyle, Amanda, Cory, Anna, and Dana for the endless support and hype up.
• My aunt Nancy and Sharon, as well as uncles David and Steven, for always being there (and for taking me and Mikayla out for a fancy dinner on my birthday).

Hopefully Chemo isn't too bad (knocking on wood as I write this), but either way we'll get through this.

Part of Kobro's Cancer Crew is featured below!

Expect another update over the next week or so!

I'll leave you with some of the funniest comments I've heard so far:

1. "Well now you might be able to meet John Cena" - Brother Sam
2. "You're balding anyways" - Dad & Mikayla (and everyone, this one is too easy)
3. Me: "it's not that bad, getting used to the idea" Brother Sam: "Oh, so you'd say it's growing on you?"
4. "You better not forget to send out any of those cancer updates." - Andrew

With Love,
David aka Kobro