Cancer - this time a very unusual form of the disease - has struck another community member. Twenty-seven-year-old Jordan Bailey has received a diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, a rare form of liver cancer.

 

To help raise funds for Bailey’s medical treatment and travel expenses, friend of the family Mike Swiger has organized the #BaileyStrong Benefit Ride, taking place Saturday, June 30. Riders can register beginning 9 a.m. on June 30 at the Bailey Farm on Rock Camp Road in Wallace.

 

The ride will get underway around noon as riders travel to 5 Points and back to the farm, where food, live music and various prize drawings will take place. Among prizes is a new 2017 Arctic Cat Alterra 400. ATVs, side-by-sides, Jeeps, motorcycles are welcome to participate in the benefit ride. Registration is $10 per person.

 

The event is sponsored by Leeson’s and Tuscan Sun Spa and Salon. At the latter company, Bailey’s mother Traci is a registered nurse, providing wellness, weight loss and medical cosmetic services.

She shared her son’s story. Jordan, she said, woke up Sunday, May 13, with a pain in his side. He had not been sick or having any issues. He saw his doctor immediately.

 

“They did an ultrasound and it showed his liver was enlarged and lumpy,” Bailey said. “The CT scan showed the same.”

 

After a biopsy, it was concluded that Jordan had hepatocellular carcinoma, which normally attacks older individuals with pre-existing liver disease. His medical team at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City believe his condition is a fibrolamellar type, which does attack individuals in their 20s who are otherwise healthy. The incidence of fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma is one in five million, Bailey said they were told.

 

To treat it, doctors are attacking the mass – 14 centimeters and considered advanced – by injecting it with a mega dose of chemotherapy. Bailey said they were told the amount of chemo used is 60,000 times what can be used systematically.

 

“They then embolized or cut off the blood supply to the tumor,” she said. “Next week’s procedure will be to cut off blood supply to the affected side of his liver, then we will wait three to four weeks for the healthy side of his liver to grow. Finally, they will do the major surgery to remove the mass and fight the right half of his liver.”

 

Beyond that, treatment is yet to be determined, she said.

 

The family has trust in Jordan's medical team at Lenox Hill: Dr. Dmitri Alden, liver specialist; Dr. Robert Rosen, cardiovascular surgeon and Dr. William Grace, oncologist. 

 

Jordan’s treatment regimen is new. In fact, it hasn’t been used before, Bailey said.

 

“The doctors said ‘the entire medical community has their eyes on this case. It may change the way we treat this cancer,’” she said.

 

Jordan traveled to New York City with his mom and his wife of just nine months, Julia (Rigsby), who manages the office at Wilson Martino Dental in Bridgeport. The couple lives on Gregory Run Road in the home where Jordan and his sister Tara grew up. He is employed as a driver with UPS.

 

Donate to the #BaileyStrong Medical Fund HERE at Go Fund Me.com.

 

In addition to participation in the benefit ride and/or financial contributions, Bailey asks for the community to be in prayer for her son.

Chances TO WIN THE Arctic Cat Alterra 400 are $20 each and available for purchase at any Tuscan Sun Spa location or at Leeson’s, Main Street in Bridgeport. Various other prizes will be given away in conjunction with the ride. See them on the #BaileyStrong Benefit Ride flyer, which can be seen below.

 

Editor's Note: Pictured from top are Jordan and Julia Bailey; Jordan with parents, Traci and Sonny Bailey; Jordan, Julia and Traci Bailey.