Several years ago (5 to be exact) my oldest son was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is bad enough to hear news of this terrible disease striking anyone, but to hear one of your children has it is devastating. But my son was ready to fight this head on. We were so blessed that it was caught early, but because this was an aggressive cancer the treatment was aggressive. Instead of going every other week for a four hour chemo treatment, he went every other week for a 5 day treatment. He wore a backpack that had the chemo in it and dispensed it through my son's port. Every month for 6 months he went in and got a terrible, painful shot in his spine so the cancer would not spread to his brain. Because of what he does for a living, he was able to work from home..and I don't think he ever missed a day of work except for the 2 times he was in the hospital. Every time I called to check on him and asked how he was doing he always said, "I'm OK!" Along with his sweet and caring wife, he fought hard. We are always so proud of good grades and home runs, but the pride I felt watching my son endure this illness and fight this battle was incredible.
So here we are, 5 years down the road. His latest PET scan was all clear, so now we go from using "in remission" to "cured!" He will still have to visit the doctor once a year-for the rest of his life-and be watchful as we all do,
but he is a SURVIVOR!!!
but he is a SURVIVOR!!! 
19 comments:
Wonderful post! I'm so glad to see the word CURED!! Beautiful Picture...lots of hugs to both of y'all!!
I am so happy for you and for your son for his cure! May he continue to so forever and forever! What a brave man to fight it so and still work.
Thanks Liz! I am pretty happy to be using that word!
He was a brave one Tina! I still am amazed by his strength and courage.
What an uplifting post. So glad he is well and a fine looking young man as well.
Wow that is wonderful!!!!! Congrats to your son!!!!(-:
Thanks Debbi! We are truly blessed.
We are pretty excited about the news Cindee! I have been waiting to hear the "cure" word for a long time!
Fantastic news!!! Thanks for sharing your excitement. There is hope. You hear more and more these days.
I am so happy that your son's cancer has been cured! No mother should have to watch her child (no matter how old they are) go through something like this. Hugs!
Praise God for answered prayers, I'm sure many were said for your son. How wonderful to hear the word "cured". I'm very happy for him and his family.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend Linda.
Wonderful post....so uplifting.By sharing this, you give those fighting the battle hope.
His smile says it all! Literally. As a mother of two adult daughters, I can't imagine the fear you have had to live with.
Brenda
mr--I debated about doing a post on this, but decided to go ahead. I wanted to share my good news with everyone. And you're so right--new advances in the cure of cancer everyday!
Racquel-you're so right! It does not matter what age they are, it is unbearable to watch your child go through this. The spinal injections just about did me in, but through my son's courage, I found strength.
Oh Susie, there were so many prayers! I cannot tell you how God helped all of us through this difficult time. God is so good!
Balisha--thank you for that sweet comment! I wish I could tell everyone there IS such hope now. My son's treatment had only been developed 2 years before he was diagnosed! And, I wish I could spread the news that attitude has got to make a difference. I saw proof of that!
Brenda, there was fear, anger, anxiety and such sadness. I dealt with all these emotions every day.
As you can tell--we are a very happy mother and son!
Linda ... what an emotionally heart wrenching time your son and all of his family had. And you .. being a mom we have that extra cord still linking us.
It is such a wonderful event to read that some one has truly beaten this devastating disease
I'm so happy for you and your son and all of the family.
He is an exceptional man and has a special wife and mother that were there fighting for him too !
It was a hard time Joy--but my son's attitude helped all of us through it! I will remain forever proud of his strength and couurage!
Oh, what a relief it must have been to get that final scan report back. I can't imagine having to go through the uncertainty of the diagnosis and treatment for the disease, both for your son and his family. I'm sure there are lots of hugs going around.
northernshade--yes, it was a big relief. I tried not to think about it too much, but I would really get nervous every 6 months at scan time!
this is truly the best news in january. how wonderful for your family to have a happy ending to the fight for life. enjoy every minute of every day...life is a gift.
Thanks for your kind words marmee--life IS truly a gift! God is so good!
How wonderful for your son...and for you, being his mom;-) I just read your post about him being cancer free for 5 years! Sorry I'm just coming in now...but it's always worth cheering for this wonderful news!
My 5-yr. mark was recently too...mid January, actually. I didn't write a post on it but I wrote about it in my sidebar. I'm trying to remember to be thankful for every day--but I'm not always successful (and you would think I would be!). Sometimes life just gets in the way of 'feeling' up all the time...but usually, I'm very appreciative.
I'm happy to have come upon your story about your son:-)
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