Where to begin my story?
Well, I grew up in Martinsville, VA and attended Fieldale-Collinsville High School. I was very involved with the church, chess club, and sports. I had a lot of potential as a basketball player coming out of high school so I decided to accept a scholarship at Longwood University in 2001 to play basketball there. I wasn't very pleased with the school's location, so I decided to transfer to Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA to attend school and play basketball. I loved the area, the people, and the school so much that I consider it a second home. I worked at the University Bookstore for 3 years and loved the job and the people that worked there. The job I had before I had to move to Durham, NC was at 17th Street Surf Shop in Newport News. I went into the job not knowing one thing about surfing or skating, but I learned and adapted and ended up moving to management and loved that job too. I bought a new car at that time with the help from my mom after walking everywhere for most of my life, and was enrolling back into school to finish up. I remember having such a great outlook for my life at that point and every day just kept getting better and better.
Unfortunately, my life took a tragic turn only a couple of weeks after I got the car and reentered school. I kept getting weaker and weaker every day and didn't know what was going on. It got to the point where I would have to ask a co-worker to watch the store while I took a nap in the back room a few times a day. Since I didn't have insurance, I just dealt with what was going on for over a month and didn't get it checked out. Shortly after that, my dad came into town to visit and we were eating a nice dinner. Well, it was a nice dinner until I had a grand mal seizure in the restaurant. The only thing I remember is waking up in the ambulance ten minutes later. They released me from the hospital in Newport News that night and I went back to work the next day only to have another seizure as I was closing the store. I stayed a night in the hospital, and then they released me again. As soon as I got home from the hospital I had another seizure within 10 minutes of getting home. My roommate called the ambulance and I was back at the hospital. This time I stayed there for a couple weeks so they could try and figure out what was going on. They concluded that there were a few spots in my brain that were hemorrhaging, but they couldn't figure out what they were from. So I was put on anti-seizure medicine and went right back to work. I didn't have any more seizures but the weakness kept getting exponentially worse. I dealt with this for two more weeks, and then my mom came down and said that I needed to go back to the hospital.
When I arrived at the emergency room, they notified me that I was completely anemic and my white blood cell and platelet counts were low so they hospitalized me and I received a blood transfusion. The hospital ran a lot of tests on me over the next two weeks but still couldn't find out what was wrong with me. They narrowed it down to either cancer or a disease from a tick bite. Since I hadn't been out much in the recent months, I had a good hunch what my fate was to be. The doctors did a bone marrow biopsy and sent me home until the results were back. The three or four days I spent with my mother in her hotel room are probably the worst days I've ever experienced. I couldn't think straight, was vomiting every 20 minutes, had enormous stomach pain, chronic coughing. I just remember that I wasn't even able to take a shower because I couldn't be on my feet that long. In fact I couldn't even sit in the shower without almost passing out. I went to visit the doctor to find out about the results of the bone marrow biopsy only to find out that my life had just taken the worst turn that it's ever taken. He informed me that I had Lymphoma and that it had already advanced to Stage IV and there was a growing tumor on my spleen. I was immediately admitted back to the hospital in Newport News and started chemotherapy right away. The first time they tried to administer the chemo I had a very bad reaction and was on the verge of cardiac arrest. I spent the next three weeks in the ICU receiving chemo and blood transfusions trying to get my blood counts back up and shrink the tumor. The chemo seemed to work as my counts went back up and the tumor shrank. I was released and immediately headed to Durham, NC the day I was released to start getting treatment at Duke.
I started my treatments at Duke, and went through 18 weeks of outpatient chemotherapy. The two weeks after every chemo were very rough because they were using a pretty strong form. I was pretty much isolated to my room for 5 months and it was a very trying time mentally and physically, but I persevered despite the overwhelming odds against me. After my chemo was up, I was supposed to get a stem cell transplant, but I was waiting on Medicaid to okay the transplant, which they never ended up doing... About a month after ending chemo, I started experiencing intense pain in my back and groin. I also had to get treated for an ulcer in my eye with a staph infection and made numerous trips to Urgent Care and the ER for various problems. Over the next 1 1/2 months the pain in my back and groin worsened and I lost partial mobility in my right leg. I knew something wasn't right at that point. I had my 3-month checkup with my oncologist, and that's when I found out that the cancer had come back very aggressively again and I had another tumor in my back that had grown onto a nerve. I was admitted to the hospital that very day to start a new regimen of chemo. This time it was to be inpatient chemotherapy and a lot stronger regimen. I just completed my second cycle of this new chemo and right now I'm not feeling well at all from it. I have one more cycle to do starting the 23rd until the 26. As if the cancer hasn't already affected my life enough, I will be spending Christmas in the hospital, but I will persevere knowing I have people in my life that love me and will be there in spirit. That's the whole point of Christmas anyway, right? Christmas is a lot bigger than gifts and get-togethers and I hope a lot of people realize that this year and in the future.
Around the middle of January, I will have a lot of tests run on me to see where the cancer is and what is needed to do. If the cancer has been pushed back at this point, I will need the stem cell transplant then for the best chance of survival. This should be sometime around mid-January and I am in desperate need of raising the money to get the transplant. I only had a 40% chance of the cancer getting pushed back and a 20% chance of surviving the transplant in November. Also, remember this: God has made miracles out of 0%, so I'm sure he can do a lot with 20%. :) With those percentages, along with an invisible hourglass hanging over my head, trying to organize and raise the funds is quite overwhelming. The one thing that gives me the energy and motivation right now, is that not only am I going to help try and save my life, I will be saving many lives in the future through this website and my foundation. I don't want anyone in the world to suffer as much as I have suffered through all of this and I will do anything in my power while I'm alive to make sure I can help everyone I can in a similar situation. I don't want those people to have to deal with the pressure and heartache I'm dealing with right now. I ask you not to donate just for me but to donate for the purpose of giving to others. If you don't wish to donate to this organization, I beg you to donate to another organization that will help someone in need.
I have had a TON of updates over the past few months on "my struggles" I could put on here to share with you. But I don't feel my struggles are the important things to be sharing with you right now. I don't view these as "struggles" anymore. I view them as bumps in the road that try and distract me from keeping my eye on the road that is leading straight to Heaven. These "bumps" may seem larger to a lot of people, but I don't feel them anymore. God has allowed me to learn from the bumps. He's allowed me to learn about perseverance, which I had none of before. I was a lost depressed soul. He's allowed me to learn how to become a better man and spread my character, my beliefs, and my strength to all of those I care about, even those I don't know... and He's allowed me to learn about hope. Too many of us misconceive what true hope is and try to use it for our selfish wishes here on Earth. The hope He speaks of is beyond comprehension to anyone in this world. I am only beginning to understand a little of what lies within this Hope, but I do know where I will find the answer. Romans V:III I will live by this verse until I can't quote it any more: "Rejoice in our suffering, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope..." If this verse can get me through dying of cancer at this age, I'm sure it will hold great power in your life it you allow it into your heart.
