Chris' Journey to Becoming Cancer Free
In June, our lives were turned upside down with the news that Chris has Testicular Cancer. Since that day we have been forced into a world that is full of ups and downs. The past 4 months Chris has undergone orchiectomy surgery, a port placement, and 4 cycles of brutal chemotherapy. Throughout this entire process he has never complained or asked why his strength has been amazing! On Monday October 29th, we had an appointment with Chris' doctor to discuss the results of his CT Scans. The results of his Scans were not what we has hoped and prayed for as he has had only partial response to the chemotherapy, meaning he still has an active tumor on his lymph node. We have now been directed to a bigger hospital that performs a dissection of the lymph node, this is a surgery that is recommended to be done by experienced hands. This news was hard for us to take, because we want this time in our lives over. We want him better so we can go back to living our normal life a family of 5. After much research we found a surgeon in New York City that is an expertise in Testicular Cancer one of the top surgeons! We are now working to finalize an appointment in one week. We will be flying to New York where Chris will more than likely have surgery hopefully within the week of arrival. We are ready to face these new challenges; one of the many benefits of marrying your High School Sweetheart is having a long lasting relationship having strength in each other to face the unknown. Throughout the past few months we have been blessed with an amazing support group near and far that have cried, laughed, cared for our 3 children, hugged, and prayed with us. We have been asked many times what can we do to help, and this is hard for us. One of my dear Childhood friends Deidre asked if we would be ok with her setting up this fund to help with the financial burdens we have been under the past 4 months and the new ones we are sure to face. Since I have been a stay at home mom for the past 10 years, we have always been a one income family. Chris has been on short term disability which is only compensating us 50% of his pay. This creating a huge financial strain and we are starting to feel the effects. Chris has said from the beginning he does not want people to worry about him as he is always the one there for others helping, but cancer has made us realize sometimes life is out of your control and you have to allow others to do for you as you would for them. We love you all, and please continue to pray for our family and that our lives will become a new normal soon! I say a new normal, because no one can go through a battle with cancer and come out unchanged!!
The Ray's
