Nate's Story

 

There he is! Our favorite guy, Nate Cotton.

    Nate Cotton is an incredible father, husband, friend and person. Unfortunately for us, his story has just taken a rather sharp turn.

    On January 27th, 2022, Nate had a seizure while at home alone. Despite being mostly unable to speak, he was able to call for an ambulance and was taken to Beverly Hospital in the late afternoon. He was quickly transferred to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, MA, where he spent five days undergoing tests to discover what was causing the seizures. After performing an MRI, doctors at Lahey found two tumors on Nate's brain. He was released from the hospital to wait at home for his surgery, and on February 8th he went under the knife for a craniotomy. Surgeons were able to remove the majority of the larger tumor, which was putting the most strain on his brain and causing the mini seizures that he was still experiencing. The tissue that was removed was sent to the pathology lab to determine if it was malignant or benign.

    The result came back the following Wednesday and we found out that Nate has an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma. He was quickly accepted to receive treatment at The Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana Farber is one of the premier cancer research institutes in the country, and they're very keen to study Nate, because he's very young to be diagnosed with glioblastoma. He has his first appointment at Dana Farber on March 1st.

    Nate is in incredible spirits - honestly, better than the rest of the Cotton family is right now - and is optimistic for a good outcome. He is eager to start treatment and to begin his battle with glioblastoma. He is still experiencing some mini seizures but they are becoming less and less frequent as time goes by. He is getting better at reading and writing, and is continuing to challenge his brain to gain function back. He does the New York Times Crossword every day, although in his words, "I think it must be the baby crossword."

    He wants to thank everyone that has sent positive thinking, prayer, or financial support - we are all very grateful for you. It's a long road ahead, and it won't be easy, but Nate has his work boots on and we're ready to go.