A
Stage 4 Lung Cancer with brain mets DX is the great white shark of medical diagnoses
… its one single minded objective is to kill me.
Hope
and awareness rumbled by my DJ/MC tent Saturday morning as nearly 500 runners
and walkers participated in Pennsylvania Lung Cancer Partnership’s 2013 Free ToBreathe 5K on City Island … stretching a 3 mile living ribbon of lung cancer awareness
across the Susquehanna River into Harrisburg and back … empowering!
Most
important last year 7 survivors were in attendance … this year, 11 were
registered though only 8 are pictured. … More, more, and more … inspirational!
Since
last summer I searched for ‘survivors’ and finally this past Spring connected
by an oncology nurse, while I was still Stage 1, the woman to the far right shared she was
told she had 4 months to live 4 years ago DX’d with Stage 4 … her advice to me
was “take control” of your treatment … surrounding
her in the chemo lounge were three more 4 yr+ survivors and a 10 yr lung cancer
survivor all of whom shared similar original prognoses.
… WE are not statistics ... WE are people fighting to outlive lung cancer
The
young woman to my left was DX’d at age 19! … young women are the fastest growing
subgroup … it’s an increasingly toxic world out there from radon to diesel to pollution
… if you have lungs you can get lung cancer … KNOW your body
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I
had an opportunity to hug Dr. Troy Moritz, my thoracic surgeon who cut the
primary tumor out of me in March 2012. Knowing the importance of spouse
caregiving to me I was out of the hospital on the third morning and just 6 weeks later pushing my
wife’s wheelchair around City Island.
Those
were the Stage 1 days and my world turned upside down 4 months ago when my DX
jumped to Stage 4 Lung Cancer with brain metastasis. …
10
whole brain radiation treatments and 12 weeks of aggressive chemotherapy I returned
to DJ … with the help of my daughter … I danced and pranced, DJ’d and MC’d,
hula hoop contests … and oh yeah Stage 4 DJing needed to sit down a couple breaks to finish
smashing some stigmas.
PS Thank You! Tom Wingert of Lucky Shot photography
Patrick Leer
Health Activist:
Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/
My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/
I know you enjoyed your day, but I bet it left you drained. I know Megan is a huge help to you!! Kudos for being a great daughter!!
ReplyDeleteJackie
Jackie 'drained' is an understatement I slept for a day :)
Deletehi there. I follow your impressive trip and my dad has lung cancer spread to the spine, liver, spleen and sternum. would love to exchange some thoughts with you. Where can I find your email address? Sincerely, Sweden
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this post about the walk. Glad you found other survivor's to be part of the important day. Thanks for educating people that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer. I've told you that I'm a 9-1/2 Year survivor of stage 3A lung cancer. I was only 41 when I was diagnosed and had never been a smoker. No-one should be judged for getting this cancer, no matter if your a smoker or not. There are all kinds of toxins in our air that causes this disease. God Bless you for sharing your strength and courage-your an inspiration to all of us.
ReplyDeleteLinda as always thank you for caring ... and sharing
ReplyDelete