Renton Police Officer Needs Help For Rare Cancer

Family and friends of Renton Police Officer Marty Leverton, diagnosed with a rare bone cancer in his throat, have established a website to help the family with medical costs.

Chondrosarcoma is a rare type of bone cancer and the cricoid cartilage is in the voice box. According to the fundraising website, Marty was diagnosed by a specialist at UW and the treatment plan overall was too invasive and could risk the chances of future surgeries to keep the tumor controlled. He found a surgeon in Boston that has taken part in a clinical case study of 104 of the 240 documented cases in the Untied States.
 
Steven M. Zeitels, MD, FACS, is the Eugene B. Casey Professor of Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and the Director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

Some additional details from the website:

After many months of throat pain and gradual loss of his voice, Marty was diagnosed on July 31, 2012 with chondrosarcoma of the cricoid cartilage.  Unlike most other types of cancer that are tissue based, chondrosarcoma tumors are cartilage based.  This type of cancer does not respond to chemotherapy or radiation.  Unfortunately the only way to completely remove the tumor is to remove the voice box. Marty is only in his 40s, married and with two young children ages three and five.

Fundraisers are being planned to benefit the Leverton family but they will not occur quickly enough to offset the expenses facing the Levertons in the short term, which include travel to Boston for treatment. Marty and his wife have already made the trip once and are now planning for an extended stay of a minimum of 3 weeks when they return to Boston for surgery, which is tentatively planned for October 11th.

As of Sept. 11, the website had raised $18,900; however, the goal is $50,000.

If you would like to donate to Officer Leverton's fund, you can do so from the website.

The Lakewood Officers Charity, formed after four Lakewood officers were killed in 2009, is taking donations through its site and matching them up to $10,000.

Cops With Cancer is a group started to remember Kent Police Officer Greg Duffin, who lost his battle with cancer in September 2007, and to provide support to all officers who may face the same battle. That group also is accepting donations through its site.

Editor's note: Information for this story was provided via the fundraising website.