John Ramsdell Fight Against Cancer

Our lives were changed forever when on Feb 9th, 2012, John had a seizure while attending a college teleconference class.  We were stunned  when the ER physician told us he had a massive brain tumor and was going to be sent to Boise, Id for evaluation that same night. He was rushed by ambulance while I dashed home to collect some clothes, toiletries, etc; not knowing how many days we'd be gone. We have three young children, twin boys age 4 and a a baby girl who was 10 months old at the time. Arrangements were made with Nana for child care and my brother packed me into his car for the two hour drive.  John had brain surgery the next morning to remove the potato sized tumor from his left frontal lobe.  They told me it was a Grade 3/4 anaplastic astrocytoma.  An aggressive type of cancer that was difficult to remove entirely by surgery.  He would require radiation and chemotherapy simultaneously after his surgical incision was healed.  We were blessed to have Dr. Timothy Johan's perform the surgery, but John's prognosis remained uncertain until he began to recover.  As a former Twin Falls city firefighter, I knew he was strong and determined. He woke up with the ability to move all his extremities, but had difficulty finding words to express himself and he was unable to figure out how to use objects for their intended purpose.  We started with very simple crossword puzzles, reading the newspaper and looking at photos of our beautiful children. By day six in the hospital, John was speaking more and more and was able to write his own name. He had some outpatient therapy for a brief period of time, but decided to postpone therapy due to his upcoming cancer treatments. He also had to medically withdraw from Idaho State University as he had missed too many classes and was scheduled to begin radiation and chemo treatments almost immediately. John had been attending University full time and working part time prior to his seizure. He had three semesters left before graduating with a degree in Geomatics. Although he has one year or more of chemo treatments planned at this point, we are uncertain what the future holds. We are so blessed to have three beautiful children after twelve years of marriage.  John has decided to go ahead and register for classes again the Fall.  He has the determination and will to finish those three semesters without letting his diagnoss/brain surgery get in his way. John has always been the kind of person we all admire and strive to be....honest, hard working, well liked and respected. His children adore him. Under these circumstances, we are calling upon the generosity of others to help John fulfill his lifelong dream of graduating from college. I know he can do it - he has come so far since that dreadful day in early Feb.  Our friends and family of our community have been so helpful and everyone is looking forward to the future with optimism and genuine hope that John's dream to walk down the aisle at graduation will become a reality!