Welcome!! The Lakewood Officers Charity invites you to take a look around to see how we are dedicated to our law enforcement community and the citizens we serve each and every day.
Oct 18 2012: Another great week at the PO Box. We collected another $2,775, bringing the total donated to the Marty fund to $8,700. With our matching funds, that is a total of $17,400 to be donated to Marty.
We still have two days to go, so please share this with as many facebook friends as you can, and lets see if we can get at least another $1300 to meet our goal of $20,000
Oct 6 2012: Although things have slowed considerably, we have raised just under $2000 through our Paypal account. The exciting news is that we have also received $3500 by mail for a total of $5500. With our match, thats $11,000 to help Marty with his upcoming battle. We are extending our cut off date for donations by 10 days, to October 20th., PLEASE CONTINUE TO SPREAD THE WORD.
Sept 11 2012: We are currently raising funds for the Marty Leverton Medical Fund. The important part is this: The Lakewood Officers Charity will be MATCHING any funds donated through our website up to a total of $10,000 through October 10th 2012. Help us reach our goal of $10,000 so that we can write a check to this worthy cause for $20,000 and help get Marty the treatment he needs and help his family through this difficult time. Thank you for anything you can do to make this happen. Click on the link below to our PayPal account to donate now. You can also make a check out to LOC and send it to:
Lakewood Officers Charity PO Box 98298 Lakewood, WA. 98496
Marty Leverton is a highly decorated Renton, WA Police Officer of over a decade. He is a leading force in DUI reduction and enforcement. Marty is only in his early 40’s, and is a loving husband and father of two young children.
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. Chondrosarcoma is a rare type of bone cancer and the cricoid cartilage is in the voice box. 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 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). Dr. Zeitels has been a productive surgical innovator designing more than 20 new laryngeal and pharyngeal procedures as well as three laryngoscope patents. His major research interests include laryngeal microsurgery, especially as it relates to minimally-invasive surgical oncology; phonosurgery and voice disorders.
Because of the size and location of the tumor one side of the vocal cord is being pushed up and over the other. If left untreated Marty will not be able to speak and the tumor could close his airway. Dr. Zeitels plan of endoscopic de bulking is the best option for the long term preservation of Marty’s voice. Further surgeries will be needed as the tumor continues to grow. Each surgery adds to the risk of total laryngectomy. After a portion of the tumor is removed radiographic imaging will determine the risk of metastasis.
Dr. Zeitels is a specialist in his field and has decided not to accept insurance. His fees need to paid before surgery and are expensive. Furthermore, electing to have surgery in Boston means Marty’s insurance for the hospital, anesthesiologist, pathology and lab are out of network and will be paid only in portion.
Financially, as well as medically, this crisis to the Leverton family is devastating. Fundraisers are being planned to benefit the Leverton family but they will not occur quickly enough to offset the expenses facing the Levertons. The Levertons will need to fly from Seattle WA to Boston. 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. The friends and coworkers of the Leverton family have established this website to collect donations and ease some of the financial stress. Our goal is to raise at least $50,000.00 for the Levertons. Please give what ever you can as every amount will help.
