My Personal Journey of Beacon and Hope!

It has been just over 7 months since our 50^th class reunion, and being able to attend it was everything I had hoped for.  It was a chance to see many high school friends, share stories, tour the high school, visit and enjoy our time together, and reflect on our previous experiences and escapades.  

During part of the program, I announced that we had already lost 40+ classmates and, except for just a few, all of them were terrible surprises.  Unfortunately, we all agreed that if we had known what they were going through we would have prayed for them, called, sent a text, email, card or somehow tried to reconnect.  It’s with this in mind, that I was inspired to initiate the “Your Message – Strength and Hope” tab on our Class Reunion website with the support of the Planning Committee.

Herein lies the reason for our Class of 74 Website: Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow, found on our Website tab, “Your Message – Strength and Hope”. 

The link to this forum can be found here:   https://www.classcreator.com/Wauwatosa-Wisconsin-Wauwatosa-West-1974/class_forums.cfm

Sunday, February 4, 2024, at 2 am I woke to stabbing, stomach pain.  We didn’t have any Tums so pickle juice from the refrigerator seemed to work and allowed me to fall back to sleep.  Later that morning, during the opening hymn at church, I couldn’t take a full breath without serious pain from my diaphragm.  I needed to sit down because of the pain and minutes later I was outside speaking with our daughter-in-law, a nurse, describing my symptoms. She thought it sounded like a gallbladder attack and told me to “Get it checked out today!”  That afternoon at Urgent Care they said the same thing and referred me to Emergency for a CT scan.  At 11:30pm the doctor, who was sitting next to the bed I was lying on, informed me that my gallbladder was fine, but I have an image on my pancreas.  I was stunned and asked if it was cancerous. He simply replied that their scheduling department will call for me to get my lab work set up so that we can find out.  I told him I would try and get admitted to MAYO.  He agreed that MAYO is an excellent choice but to go with whoever can get your lab work done first because everything else comes after that and it’d be 2.5-3 weeks to get an endoscopic needle biopsy.

Monday was a blur, and Tuesday I was finally able to connect with MAYO’s Oncology Surgery department.  I already had the magic MAYO patient number for future surgery admission from a surgery there in 2019.  MAYO confirmed their labs were 2.5-3 weeks out and encouraged me to contact Honor Health for earlier labs.  Honor Health checked and they too were 2.5-3 weeks out, but during our conversation a cancellation came in that provided me with a 1:30 appointment the very next day, Wednesday.  After the biopsy, while in recovery, the surgeon met with Elaine and me. He assured us that it will be at least Monday or Tuesday before he gets my lab results and suggested we rest and not worry.  However, as soon as 8am Friday Anita with MAYO in Surgical Oncology called me to say that I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She had already scheduled my first 5 appointments.  Fast forward through those appointments, just 3.5 weeks after that Sunday morning pain, to Thursday, February 29^th, my first of what would be 12 sessions of Chemotherapy began.

I share this with you now not looking for likes, sympathy or some kind of special attention, but to bring our attention to the 42+ classmates that have already passed since our graduation and those who are now dealing with serious medical or health conditions. Just like some of you, I personally know several are and I include them in my daily prayers.  

Maybe like some others, after my diagnosis had been confirmed I initially shared my condition exclusively with my mom and our children, and in the following 2 weeks I personally called and informed over 100 very close family and friends.  After that, I embraced Caring Bridge, a site for sharing these types of stories with others so that I was able to have my treatments, rest and focus on recovery.    

The prayers, love, and support that I received from family, friends, neighbors, our church, countless prayer groups, others and, of course, the 50th planning committee too.  YES, I have a strong relationship with God and am active in our church. It’s clear to me that the series and timing of my early diagnosis within those short 3.5 weeks was not a bunch of coincidences but rather a demonstration of God’s hand in response to the prayers of many hundreds of believers.

Today, I am not considered cancer free but instead having a “stable disease” because the tumor is inoperable.  My monthly blood draws and quarterly scans continue to get better the further I am from my past radiation, chemo and chemo tablets.  Pancreatic Stage 1 cancer patients have a 40-45% chance of living to 5 years and 10% of those will not die from it.  

My personality just does not accept the 1 down and 4 to go but instead I will be in that 10%, as God wills it, and I WILL be with you at the future 1974 Tosa West Reunions!

PLEASE, share your story and encourage others to share their story early and allow us to help support you or them in prayer and other ways.