“You have cancer”
Two weeks ago, Sean woke up with a mass on his right side. It wasn’t painful, not too uncomfortable at the time, just there. He was active and we thought “perhaps it’s a hernia?” On that thought, Sean made an appointment with his doctor who ordered imaging, which resulted in our first clue this was not a hernia.
Sean had a moderate to large pleural effusion of the right lung. He only had mild symptoms of shortness of breath, nothing outside of the ordinary given his allergies. Nonetheless, his right lung pleura was filled with fluid and the lung itself was compressed as a result. A collaborative team of caring health professionals worked to get him in for a thoracentesis and CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. That was when we learned he had cancer, and it is advanced. There are many unknowns at this point including the type of cancer and treatment plan. Sean is receiving excellent care and we are grateful. Today he will go for an MRI of the brain and we hope the pathology results come back.
At home, Sean will continue going to the gym as much as possible remaining active and keeping his body strong! We will continue our lifestyle-based system of clean eating and get rid of toxic substances- NO CHEMICALS. Please, I implore all of you to cherish your body as the temple that it is and join us in a cancer resilient lifestyle-based system of moving your body, eating real food, and getting rid of any toxic substances that may be in your life.
Many of you have asked, “what can I do?” I think the first thing you can do is hug your family and dear friends a little tighter. “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” James 4:14. This life is so precious and short, it is to be cherished. We invite you to unite our suffering to that of our Lord Jesus Christ and pray that this experience grows us in the virtues of faith, hope, and love.
Sean has asked for two things: 1) pray for him and our family, 2) hang out with him if that is possible for you. He has also asked that we remain positive and this would align with growing in the virtues of faith and hope. Nothing is impossible for our God! We make space for His miraculous healing hand but surrender to His Holy Will, which is ALWAYS good no matter the outcome.
We heard at our church retreat, “I love you, not in a weird way but in a Jesus-like way.” I offer that to each of you, we love you all very much, not in a weird way but in a Jesus-like way. All glory to God in this moment and all moments. Take good care so you can be strong! Let’s do this.
