“Help Bartosz Ślusarski Fight Jaw and Shoulder Tumors: Fundraising for Surgery and Rehab”

Hi,

My name is Bartosz Ślusarski and I am 36 years old. Some of you probably know me from my activities on the Internet related to Pogoń Szczecin. For several years I have been co-creating a portal dedicated to my beloved club, as well as a podcast where we discuss events related to Pogoń every week. My everyday life, functioning, work, developing my interests, and even my further life have become questionable due to the information that has fallen on me recently.

For several months, I began to experience intense headaches, which I blamed on migraines caused by everyday stress, which accompanies us all more and more often. In addition, I began to have problems with my teeth, and over time, jaw and jaw pains came. Problems and pain related to the spine, which I have had for many years, I dropped on my scale. All these symptoms prompted me to diagnose the problem through tests and medical consultations.

It soon turned out that the situation was more serious than I could have expected. The doctors diagnosed me with a tumor at the level of the shoulder blade, which is benign, but requires surgery, because if it metastases, e.g. to the skeletal system, it can be malignant, which means several months of life and death. I am in the risk group because a few years ago my father died after a serious illness (bone cancer) after a few months of fighting the disease. However, the information about the tumor at the height of the shoulder blade is not everything. It turned out that my headaches, problems with my teeth and jaw were caused by jaw cancer (ameloblastoma). The tumor ate the mandibular hinge, which causes problems with the dentition (loss and shifting of teeth) and everyday, normal functioning, and this is just the beginning of my problems. During an x-ray at the hospital a few weeks ago, my jaw literally fell off its hinge.

What does the future perspective look like? The surgery to remove the jaw is urgent and delaying it every week reduces my chances of survival. The National Health Fund reimburses the resection itself, but other necessary activities must be covered on your own. Preparing for the operation, orthodontic treatment before and after the procedure, months of rehabilitation, hospital stay, as well as inserting dental implants (the cost of one is at least PLN 3,500) requires me to raise funds in the amount of PLN 70,000 at the beginning, which definitely exceeds my and my relatives financial possibilities.

The operation to remove the jaw consists in removing the jaw bone and teeth, and then reconstructing the resulting defect with a bone graft from the hip, which will also make it difficult and delay my return to everyday life after the procedure. Pthe selected fragment of the hip bone will be computer-designed in advance on the basis of a three-dimensional digital model, thanks to which surgeons will precisely recreate the defect as closely as possible in shape to the structure of the face. At the same time, an individual temporomandibular joint prosthesis will be implanted. That’s all function properly, it is necessary to replace the teeth that had to be extracted during the biopsy and during surgery. One of the methods that allow the activation of the jaw bone: mandibular osteotomy (BSSO – Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy) – this method allows the correction of most deformities within the mandible. The approximate price of the procedure is PLN 19,000.

Anyone who knows me knows that my appearance is not the most important thing for me. The insertion of dental implants is to help me function normally, and without them my new jaw will not hold and the whole operation will be in vain. Dental implants, as I mentioned, are not reimbursed, and the operation must be done as soon as possible. Waiting any longer will cause the ameloblastoma to spread to other organs (lymph nodes in the first place) and it will be too late to do anything. After a possible operation to remove part of my face and reconstruct it, I will have many months of recovery in the hospital. Learning to eat, drink, speak and walk after taking a bone fragment from the hip. I will be out of business for a long time. Going to work, earning money, taking care of the house or meeting friends.

I never expected to have to ask for help like this. The whole situation caused me a nervous breakdown, a stay in the hospital and, as the doctors described it, a “state of resignation”. If it wasn’t for my relatives and friends, I would not have decided to turn to you for help in this way.

I don’t want to give up and although I know that a difficult road and a lot of pain await me, I want to take up this uneven fight against cancer. Please help and thank you for all your support.

Bartek.