Despite all the craziness this month, we had to take the time to celebrate a huge milestone. It’s officially been 5 years since my husband’s last cancer treatment. This is a big cancer survival milestone in itself, but we feel particularly blessed that he’s made it through so much!

The past few weeks we’ve been at the James Cancer Hospital. My dad had cancer in his jaw three years ago and although they initially thought they wouldn’t have to replace it, they did eventually have to, and that time is now. The surgery went well, but he’s been having some trouble in recovery including a stroke. We are praying the rest of recovery will be much smoother!
We’ve been going back and forth to Columbus and spending some time down there. There is a major theme at the James Cancer Hospital that is so very true – no cancer is routine. For example, my husband had testicular cancer, which has a high survival rate. Many men just have the surgery followed by a surgery to remove lymph nodes (a very serious surgery), and they don’t require any additional treatment as long as the cancer didn’t metastasize.
Unfortunately, though, my husband doesn’t fit into that category. When he discovered he had a tumor, he went straight to Walter Reed to have the surgery. They said they caught it early, but he already had 3 tumors! Although we talk about cancer as the location of the cancer, it’s so much more than that. After further biopsy, it was discovered he had multiple forms of cancer including one that is very aggressive.
Despite having the RPLND Surgery it was discovered that less than a year later it had metastasized in an aortic lymph node and lungs. Although we don’t really talk about it, the survival rate was much lower than “routine” testicular cancer.

5 Year Cancer Survival

Needless to say, this was a huge milestone to celebrate! God has been so good to our family. It wasn’t easy for him or our family. In fact, it was extremely challenging. We stayed confident (and praying diligently) through these 5 years that he would be one of the 16%. It’s still a long road as he has many medical challenges due to the chemotherapy he had, but I am so very grateful and know I am extremely blessed to have him by my side!