North Portland Bikeworks co-director asks for help to fund cancer treatment

Kim Fey
(Photo: Facebook/Kim Fey)

Kim Fey, the co-director of North Portland Bikeworks, has a serious form of cancer and she’s making a direct appeal to the community to help her fight it. Kim, 40, is part of the heart and soul of Bikeworks, a shop that has become a neighborhood institution since opening on Mississippi Street over a decade ago (they recently moved to a larger location on the corner of Mississippi and Shaver).

Kim has taken a leave of absence from the shop to fight a recent diagnosis of Stage IV Melanoma skin cancer. While the survival rate of her condition is less than 10 percent, Kim is counting on a new type of medicine that has shown great promise for people with her specific condition. The new drugs are “a considerable amount of money,” she says, and they are not covered by her insurance so Kim has turned to the community for support.

Here’s more from Kim via her page on GoFundMe.com:

Hi everyone,

Five years ago I was diagnosed with stage III Melanoma (skin cancer). After having the lymph nodes of my left leg removed I was really positive that the cancer would not return.

In June of this year, the day before my 40th birthday, I had a PET scan of my body which revealed I had a tumor growing in the upper lobe of my right lung. On July 30th I had the upper lobe removed and the pathology revealed a 2 inch Melanoma tumor.

As of now I have stage IV Melanoma.There are no traditional treatment options like chemotherapy for me. The survival rate for this stage of Melanoma shows that I have less that a 10% chance of living more than five years.

There is, however, a new type of medicine called BCG that is new within the last 9 months. It is designed for patients just like me, who have had two or more organs involved and have had successful surgeries removing the cancer. It has had better results than Interferon or Ipilibumab, the only two drugs available for Melanoma. It uses your own body to fight the cancer cells versus biochemical agents.

This treatment option was developed at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, CA. It is out of my Kaiser insurance so the treatment will be paid for out of pocket. The treatment is two weeks long and will cost a considerable amount of money.

For those who know me, I am a very self sufficient woman. I almost never ask for help and feel like I can do anything on my own. As of now I realize that this is so much bigger than me and I need help financially. Again, Kaiser will not pay for this treatment since it isn’t within their system. If there is any way for help with whatever you can afford, it will be so appreciated.

So far, Kim has raised over $10,000 for her treatment. Stay in touch with her progress and donate online at GoFundMe.com.

Good luck Kim! We’re all thinking good thoughts and hoping for a full recovery.