Diagnosis: Testicular Cancer    

Date: Easter Weekend, 2001                Details and Lessons Learned: Below

 (left to right) John Clevenger, Carolyn Howell, Claire Whitehill, Julie Deladdy, Lauren Kiser, Katie Andringa (the one with white hair) and Kara Gleason. 

This was during my five day recovery from the lymph node surgery in the hospital...Lauren Kiser helped my family take care of me which was a HUGE help!

The Scoop

This past January, I prayed that God would break me so that I could only rely on him and him alone.  Two months later, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  I felt as if God was pulling the rug out from under me.  But you know something, it’s a lot easier to look up when you’re flat on your back.  When I was first diagnosed, swarms of thoughts flooded my head.  Am I gonna die? Will I ever have kids?  Will I ever be able to run around or will I be stranded in a hospital bed for the rest of my life?  I had no clue what God was doing with my life or what he was going to accomplish through it, but I knew it would be powerful.  I sort of went back and forth with how I felt about the whole thing.  At times, I would say, “God’s the only reason I’m alive anyway, so if he can use my death for some greater purpose he can have me.”  Other times, I was frustrated, angry, and confused.  I felt like my life’s compass had gone haywire.  The hardest part of dealing with the news wasn't so much the physical pain, but the mental chaos that bludgeoned my mind.  But allow me to impart to you the expertise I gained about testicular cancer.

There are six types of testicular cancer.  With six being the most aggressive type, my cancer was about a 3.5.  The doctors told me that it had probably spread and although my life wasn’t really in danger, if we didn’t do something soon, my life would be in critical danger.  My choices of treatment/poison were to have chemo treatments for the first six weeks of the summer or the have my lymph nodes removed surgically.  The lymph nodes would probably be the next place that the cancer would spread after the original mass had been removed.  Guys, I’m here to tell you that because of God’s power and grace, and the prayers of incredible friends, not a single lymph node was infected with cancer.  Translation: Even though this was a high-risk, semi-aggressive type of cancer, it did not spread at all…Booyah!  And I can still have kids…Double Booyah!  The fact of the matter is that God has cultivated my faith so much through this that I would delightedly have cancer all over again just to be able to see his hand be so visibly at work again.  As cheesy as that poem about the footprints in the sand is, that’s what I feel like this past summer has been for me.  When I looked back after walking with the Lord during the summer and only saw one set of footprints, I immediately thought He had left me, when He was carrying me the whole time.  The Lord has really grown my faith from this experience, and I want you to know what faith is so you can attain it without the Lord having to show you while you’re on your back.

This was after my first cancer surgery this summer to remove the cancerous mass.  Holt and Anna are at my side.  These two and Kelly White pampered me more than I thought was possible.  That's my dinosaur blanket that has been a comfort to me since I was little...you heard me, dinosaur blanket.  None of us had showered in a couple days, so they'll probably want me to remove this picture.

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