Kobro's Cancer Crew #11: Frosted tips?
In my men's pickup league last fall, they tracked where you make or miss shots. The Red Xs are where I've missed shots and green dots are where I've hit shots.
It turns out that nurses do the same exact thing except they show where they stick a needle in you for chemo. Thought this was funny… I hope their percentages are higher than mine.
Now, let's get into the important stuff!
Lymphoma Fundraiser
So far I've kept my diagnosis and treatment fairly low-key, mainly just sharing with you (family and close friends).
That said, there's folks in my life that I'm sure would appreciate to know what's going on. So, I decided to be more public and post on Instagram, facebook, etc. I also thought this would be a great excuse to ask people for money towards something meaningful.
Here's the post I put on Instagram:
A few months ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma. On the bright side, it's one of the most curable cancers and I've got tons of support from family and friends.
I've already started chemo (12 rounds over 6 months) and the doctor says I am expected to make a full recovery. Feeling good so far!
I can't change the scenario, so I figured why not have some fun with this…
My hair's falling out and starting to get all patchy, so I'm having friends (you) bid on a new hairstyle before I shave it all off.
All money raised will go toward paying for another person's Lymphoma treatment. Thankfully I have solid healthcare and can afford the other expenses, but many people aren't as lucky. I'm planning to find a person/people on GoFundMe who can't afford treatment. Let me know if you have anyone in mind.
Here's how it'll work:
1. There's 3 hairstyles to choose from: mohawk, frosted tips, or half shaved head.
2. Venmo me @kobro with your vote in the comments (DM me if you rather Zelle, PayPal, Cashapp, etc.).
3. Whatever hairstyle has the highest cumulative donation, wins. I'll collect donations through Saturday, July 20th.
4. On Sunday, July 21st I'll be getting the haircut (or bleaching my hair in the case of frosted tips).
5. On Sunday July 28th I'll be shaving my head + donating to the person/people who will have a portion of their treatment covered.
I'm super comfortable talking about cancer stuff, so feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
This sort of thing really forces you to appreciate the scarcity of the time we have here. I've never felt more motivated to create meaning.
Last thing I'll say is I'm beyond grateful for everyone who has shown up and been supportive — especially my girlfriend Mikayla and my parents who helped me through 8 months of symptoms before we figured out the diagnosis. No doubt we'll beat this thing!
Mikayla had the idea to put the money towards helping someone (or multiple people) pay for their lymphoma treatment. She always comes up with the good ideas.
Here's just one example from GoFundMe — lots of people post their stories and why they need support:
How to contribute:
As mentioned in the instagram post, the easiest way is to Venmo me @ kobro (or Zelle / Paypal davidkobrosky@gmail.com) and let me know your vote in the comments.
That said, I know some folks here are "check" people. In other words, you're old. It may not be best practice to call someone old and ask them for money in the same paragraph, so you'll have to forgive me.
If you're too old for Venmo or others, feel free to make a check out to my name and send to:
David Kobrosky
395 Leonard St. Apt. 330
Brooklyn, New York 11211
You'll just have to take my word that I won't pocket it and spend it on skateboards.
How it's going:
In 36 hours we had $5,378 donated from 144 people. People are showing up!
We're talking camp friends, my elementary school gym teacher, co-workers at my first cashier job when I was 14 years old.
Here's a graphic I made to get the people excited about the options.
Seems like Frosted tips is in the lead, both by number of voters and total $$ donated.
You have a chance to change the direction of my hair style for the entirety of a week.
Finally, let's get into the proper health update
I don't look or feel quite as sharp as I did a few months back (now I'm up 45lbs from 190lbs to 235lbs).
Now before you say: "Wow, David looks fat and depleted", which would be a valid statement, guess what?
I decided to see I could beat my mile time from the first round of chemo. I smoked it — 8:48 min mile pace vs. 10:00 min.
And if you still aren't convinced I'm doing alright, here's a video I made you from a few weeks ago on Saturday morning at 4:30am when I was getting my day started.
I've been generally careful to not push myself too hard, but I played some pickup basketball the and twisted my ankle. Doc wasn't happy. Still skateboarding too.
Round 7 wasn't too bad. In good news, my liver toxicity levels seem to be stabilizing. They are't entirely sure why, but I'm not complaining.
I got to see all these cute cancer cards from kids at nearby schools. They have terrible spelling and make very little sense, but I guess it would be nice to read these if I was like old and on my death bed. I get the sentiment.
Here's a juicy picture of me and the red devil drug.
After round 7, Mikayla and I went to Boston to visit my family and stopped in Hartford and Providence along the way.
We randomly bumped into my old intern at Intros AI at a coffee shop! Here's a picture of Jonathan and Mikayla. Jonathan's coming up on his final semester at Yale. Smartypants.
While in Boston I got to see some of the OGs. Gideon Roell and Matt Rich pictured to the left. Tom Cole and Mikayla on the right.
Round 8 was a few days back — this one got me more nauseous than the other ones so far.
Feeling a tad more worn down too, but we only got 4 more to go baby. 2/3rds of the way there.
I tried to get out of taking one of the drugs I don't like because the Physician's Assistant was there instead of Doctor Handsome. Doctor Handsome previously said that we may not need to take Nivolomab every infusion, so I thought this was my chance.
The Physician's Assistant laughed at me and said that: "we're going to continue the full treatment". Mikayla commented that it was like a kid telling the substitute teacher "we were told there wasn't homework".
I also learned some new stuff around B cells which are memory cells that remind your body how to fight off a disease. Since Chemo kills a lot of these, I'm more prone to catch things like Covid.
Thankfully my white blood cells have been getting back to the typical levels, which means that if I were to catch something, I could likely fight it off. So, overall health is looking good.
Love,
David