Mark Jones Relief Foundation http://mjrf.org/2.htmlIn September of 2005 Mark was diagnosed with a five-centimeter acoustic neuroma on the right side of his head. An acoustic neuroma is a benign, slow growth tumor of the balance nerve. Needing surgery, Mark returned to his family’s home in Indiana and to the IU Medical Center. In Indiana Mark had a total of five surgeries in order to remove the tumor and to correct related problems. The first brain surgery was complicated by the tumor’s size and complexity. The surgeons worked on him for nine hours. Two days after the first major surgery he was taken back to the operating room for another six hour procedure to install a VP shunt. Mark’s VP shunt is a tube that runs from inside his brain, under the skin behind his left ear, across his clavicle, down the chest, and into his abdominal cavity. It was placed in order to properly drain pressure due to the build up of spinal fluid in the skull.
The Mark Jones Relief Foundation was started in response to the situation Mark found himself in after the surgeries. With only $50,000 of medical coverage, Mark was himself responsible for over $200,000 in medical bills! He also wanted to lead by example and tough out the triathlon and show people that anything is possible even after three brain surgeries.
I sent some money to this young man's family after I found this website. It was the least I could do for using his picture to illustrate the same problems I have lived with. I had major surgery in 1983 to replace the drainage tube that runs from the head to the large intestine. At that time, the surgery was over $100,000.
