Hey all! I know I have yet to post an official about me and I will soon get to that. I want to be able to really sit and take the time to write out why this blog and my other social media platforms are so important to me. However, more important than facts about myself, I want to share one of the vital experiences I went through personally, that fueled my wellness journey. And yes, it has to do with the dreaded “C” word. So sit back, relax, and I hope that you can take something positive away from my story.

First off, I want to start by saying this situation, in my own opinion, was a blessing in disguise. I know that sounds bizarre in every way possible, but hear me out. I was always interested in health and wellness. I began going to school for nutrition back in 2014 and knew I wanted to spend my life shedding awareness of the importance of our diets. However, I took “balance” a little far and beyond. I ate out frequently, drank alcohol multiple times a week, and was silently suffering with disordered eating.

In the beginning of 2015 I went through a severe break-up with my boyfriend of 8 years. I had this whole life built around this person – our house, our dog, our friends, etc. – and I felt so lost, depressed, and confused. I never thought I would meet someone who I could share a similar lifestyle with, as I did my ex. Then one night, I met this amazing boy named Thomas. He was tall, dark, and handsome (not to sound cliche). He was charming and hilarious and we shared the same sense of humor, which is HUGE for me. If you can’t make me laugh, BYEEEE. I remember being so nervous around Thomas. I didn’t know how to date, I had been in a relationship for 8 years, let alone flirt! Somehow, I didn’t scare him away and we became inseparable from the night we met, spending almost every single day together. Fast forward about a year; we were closer than ever. He was my best friend. We had the most perfect relationship. He was the most supportive, caring, generous person I had ever met. I’m not kidding when I say that – I’ve never heard a single person say one negative word about this boy.

Thomas is an incredible skateboarder. He is sponsored by a couple companies and you can tell it is the one thing in his life that brings him COMPLETE happiness and a feeling of completeness. One night, we were in Seattle at a huge skateboard competition. He skated really well and was feeling great. We drove the 30 minutes home that night and went to sleep. I woke up around 3:30am to go to work (I work at a coffee shop and no, it never gets easier waking up at that time). About an hour into my shift I got a call from Thomas. I had a feeling something was wrong, why else would he be calling me at 4:30am? I answered and he was in tears. We all know that men don’t cry, so I knew immediately this was serious. He told me he was experiencing severe abdominal pain. He could barely stand up but somehow managed to drive himself to the hospital. He was there all morning and I rushed there as soon as I could. After one scan, the doctor came into the room. She explained to us that Thomas had a mass inside his bladder the size of a baseball. She said she’d send him home with Vicodin and he would need to follow up with a neurologist (bladder doctor). And then she said the dreaded words, “I do have to let you know, that although its very unlikely, this could be a tumor and it could be cancerous. But don’t worry because the odds of that are quite slim.” And we left.. not having any answers, Thomas still in excruciating pain, and no idea where to go from here.

 

The next morning Thomas woke up in even worse pain than the day before. I drove him to another (better respected) hospital and they got us into a room right away. After completing tests and scans we were told that he did in-fact have a mass, but it wasn’t inside his bladder and it wasn’t the size of a baseball. It was the size of a softball and it was in between his bladder and pelvic bone. The doctor told us that in his 20 years of working at that hospital, he had only seen a Urologist come to the ER one time. They usually send the patients to their personal office. But twenty minutes later, a Urologist walked in and my stomach dropped. I knew this meant that wasn’t good. He informed us that after reviewing cat scans he could tell the mass was a tumor. He said it was half soft and half hard. Cancer is usually “soft”. So he was confused as to what exactly he was dealing with. He then said, “What kind of cancer does an otherwise healthy, young man get? Sarcoma.” And with Sarcoma, they can’t just biopsy tumors without caution, as it can easily spread. So, were there for over a week getting yo-yo answers and experiencing a roller coaster of emotions.

“It’s not cancer.”

“We think it is cancer.”

“It’s not cancer.”

Thomas biopsy came back inconclusive. Usually, when tumors are cancerous, blue cells will appear on scans. Thomas’s scans came up with only one blue cell. I’m sure you can imagine how we were feeling at this point. Mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. We were then informed that about 30 minutes away from home, in Seattle, there was a team of doctors that specialize in Sarcoma. So, they sent us up to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for more testing/biopsy’s. Our first meeting with his doctor didn’t quite make us feel any better. She reviewed his scans with us and said, as an expert in her field, she was 99% sure this was Sarcoma. Even though we knew this was a possibility for weeks, nothing could have prepared us for this news. We were in shock. I remember excusing myself from the room.

I rushed to the bathroom, and TMI, actually threw up. I felt sick, I was shaking, I was terrified. The sad thing is, with the stigma around cancer, the first thing you think of initially is death. I didn’t know what to do. Mind you, Thomas grew up in a military family and so he had not a single family member in Washington State. So this was basically all on my plate, in terms of support. A week went by and we had one last meeting with his doctor. October 20, 2015, Thomas’s 21st birthday. He was already upset he had to spend his special day in a doctors appointment, let alone receiving the news he did. It was cancer; Ewing sarcoma. A rare bone cancer that affects less than one in a million and is even more rare to develop in those over the age of 20.

I was determined to not let this ruin his day. Sure, we couldn’t go do what most 21 year olds do and have a night out on the town and drink, so I thought of the next best thing – sky diving! We drove about an hour north and that night, we jumped out of a plane together. I wanted him to know that regardless of his diagnosis, he was still a normal human being and he deserved to enjoy this day.

Thomas, a couple weeks later, started treatment. He was on the most intense chemo-regime you could possibly be on. It was hard, but I will say, It wasn’t what I expected. You expect to see what you see in the movies. Sure, he had his moments where he was violently ill, but it wasn’t all bad days. His chemo schedule was intense. The first week of the month, he would have a 10 hour session, where he could come home at the end of the day. Them two weeks later, he would be admitted for five days (where he couldn’t leave the hospital) and would receive chemo every day. This would alternate every two weeks. I was working two jobs, both an hour away from each other, trying to go to school, keep my sanity while I slept on a cot in the hospital room every night, while trying not to forget to take care of myself. It was the hardest thing I had ever gone through. I remember one of the doctors pulling me outside and telling me how admirable it was, my obvious care for Thomas, and how he had seen chemotherapy tear couples apart who had been married for 30+ years. 

I just knew deep down, he was a special person and worth this fight/struggle. There was one day in particular that will forever stick with me. He was out driving and it was pouring down rain. There was a family on the side of the street, with their child in a stroller. He could tell they were struggling and were soaking wet. He pulled over, parked his car, and asked if he could buy them lunch. Mind you, Thomas couldn’t work. The medical bills were pouring in but he was too sick to have a scheduled job. They went into a nearby restaurant and he bought the family dinner. This blew my mind. How could someone, going through probably the hardest thing imaginable, be so selfless? I couldn’t imagine how much of a better place this world would be with more people like this.

So as his treatment went on, we experienced a multitude of chemo-related symptoms. He couldn’t eat because of his loss of appetite, severe mouth sores, and he lacked energy to do dairy activities. When he first started treatment, he weighed almost 170lbs and mid-treatment he had gotten down to 135. He’s 6″0 by the way.. This was the scariest time for me. With my passion for health and wellness, I knew there were things about his diet that we could change to help his success. I researched for days on end specific foods, “superfoods”, herbs, spices, adaptogens, and everything under the sun that has been clinically proven to fight cancer cells and alleviate some of the symptoms accompanied by chemotherapy treatment. We changed his diet around immensely. I would prep huge Tupperware containers of prepped foods and bring them to the hospital for him to have, strictly made of whole, nutrient-dense foods that would directly benefit his condition.

In February of 2016, we got news that he was going to have his tumor-removal surgery.

We were excited and scared, at the same time. He had never undergone a major surgery, let alone removing cancer from his body. Well, things started to look up. A week later we went in for his follow-up appointment. The doctor told us that upon removal, there were no active cancer cells. In simper terms, his ENTIRE tumor was dead.. which does not happen often, especially with Ewing sarcoma. I know that this news was not solely due to his diet and lifestyle changes, but I like to think that this made a HUGE impact on his success.

He had to endure 6 more rounds of chemotherapy after his removal surgery, for good measure. They do this as a precautionary measure to decrease the odds of reccurances.

 

So, after his last treatment, we were told he was disease free or NED (no evidence of disease). He would have to come in for scans every 3 months for the first two years, then every 6 months for the next two years, and then annually for life. That’s a small price to pay though, for another chance at life. So, fast-forward a year, we just celebrated ONE YEAR CANCER-FREE (or one year in remission). I’ve never seen someone have such a positive mindset through something so life-threatening. Knowing your life is on the line, yet still living like nothings wrong, putting others before yourself, and staying as happy as you can possibly be, is quite possibly the most inspiring thing I’ve witnessed. This boy completely changed my life. Through this experience and his attitude throughout it all, we both have a new zest for life. Little things you hear others complaining about on a day to day basis, no longer matter. They seem minute and irrelevant. Money, materialistic things, and work no longer affect my life. I focus on what matters and live everyday as stress-free as possible, knowing it could always be worse. So, I hope that you can take this story and use it as motivation to live a positive, happy, fulfilling life and know that it can always be worse. We all have our days, but don’t let those bad days define you. Not to get all sappy on ya, but you are never promised tomorrow. So appreciate what you have, let your loved ones know they are loved, and strive to fulfill YOUR dreams. And take care of yourselves. Thomas consumed a standard American diet before his diagnosis and didn’t take care of his body. It’s the one thing YOU have control over, so take full advantage. Eat your greens, consume a lot of nutrient-dense foods, stay away from artificial’s and preservatives, and fuel your body because the power of nutrition to heal is truly underrated.