Andrew's Pets for Vets Campaign
Donation protected
After many weeks of pain, and after a few misdiagnosis, I finally got an answer to what was causing me pain albeit, words you never really can prepare yourself to hear.
On 4 November 2016 I was officially diagnosed with Testicular cancer (TC). On 9 November 2016, I had an Orchiectomy to (hopefully) remove the cancer. To many, this is where the story ends with early detection of testicular cancer.
However, Pathology results showed (and somewhat confirmed previous thoughts & theories), I am up against a pretty rare and aggressive type of cancer. This cancer grows fast--its why I was having pain, which is rare in TC cases. The good news? It is still treatable, and better than that, curable. Not all are lucky; about 2-4% of TC (equally as rare) are diagnosed with a type of TC that grows aggressive and isn’t easily treatable with chemotherapy. I consider myself lucky--and its the rare pain symptoms I had (and challenging doctors that just because I had pain doesn't mean "its nothing") that allowed me to get a hold of this disease early.
So what’s next?
I start chemo, 5 Dec, doing 2 cycles, 3 weeks per cycle with no gaps. Week 1 (of each cycle) will be 5-7 hours of chemo a day. Week 2 and 3 are 1-3 hours of chemo on Tuesdays--every Tuesday I get (low-dose) Cisplatin, the life saving chemo that drastically changed the prognosis of these cancers but unfortunately comes with the side effects which I'll be feeling Thursdays. This should all wrap up 0n 10 January 2017. Not the best way to bring in the New Year, but it can always be worse and this will give me just better perspective.
Through this process I'm capturing things, lessons learned through the experience, medical things for other future TC and chemo-facing patients to learn from. In addition, this helps many of us put a face to cancer, and hopefully we all look at each other differently knowing that behind those eyes could be potentially someone who faces their own hidden battles (whether it be cancer or something else!); hopefully the world gets a little less judgmental overall. Lastly, its to talk about cancer without fearing the word or giving it any more power over us as it already has. Open discussion around the topic is healthy and shouldn't be shunned or ignored. It is this reason why I'm being so transparent about this--at least now with more answers than questions (where before, it was question after question and it was a pretty fluid and dynamic situation).
I'm taking this unfortunate situation of mine, grabbing your attention, and hopefully turning it into a positive experience for everyone.
In a previous life, I've had the privilege to work as a Dept. of Defense (DoD) civilian for about 8 years. I've worked with and for some amazing Service members (USAF, USN, USA, USMC) and other DoD civilians. These people enter similar situations as I find myself in now, but knowingly enter such situations. They face life/death situations. They make sacrifices too rarely discussed--such as deployments and time away from family, high stress situations affecting others, injuries, post-traumatic stress. Unfortunately, many attempt to take their own lives because they don't get the help they need.
"Pets for Vets" (a 501(c)(3) organization) helps get them the support. It takes Pets, who are in need of a home as well, and transitions them to Vets who need that unconditional love. It is a truely amazing program that I hope to get even more involved in when all this cancer funny business is over. These pets all come from shelters. More can be learned here:
So, my goals are to get your attention, share my story, and get us to all jointly focus on something greater than any one of us. This is truely impactful across species.
And the best part--Microsoft, my employer, will match up to $15,000 of these donations.
Goals:
- Raise awareness of Testicular Cancer, and all cancers really; nothing beats early detection
- Raise awareness of Cancer in general; be aggressive and don't let a doctor or anyone dictate how aggressive you approach this (pain is rare in my case and led to at least 2 weeks of wasted time). Be able to talk about cancer without giving it anymore power than it deserves.
- Turn a negative situation into a rather positive one.
Thanks to...:
- Microsoft, who isn't just my employer or a company providing me great healthcare, but will match these donations up to $15,000
- Support team: this includes my family, friends and girlfriend, Nicole. All have been amazing and super supportive. Oh, and I have an amazing Goldendoodle "Teddy" who does his fair share of supporting me as well :)
- To you, even if you don't donate, to have read this. Hopefully you will have a slightly different view of the world with a little less judgement leading to overall healthier interactions with those around us. If the current political environment has shown us--we can all do a little more (::cough cough:: or a lot more) listening than talking...
On 4 November 2016 I was officially diagnosed with Testicular cancer (TC). On 9 November 2016, I had an Orchiectomy to (hopefully) remove the cancer. To many, this is where the story ends with early detection of testicular cancer.
However, Pathology results showed (and somewhat confirmed previous thoughts & theories), I am up against a pretty rare and aggressive type of cancer. This cancer grows fast--its why I was having pain, which is rare in TC cases. The good news? It is still treatable, and better than that, curable. Not all are lucky; about 2-4% of TC (equally as rare) are diagnosed with a type of TC that grows aggressive and isn’t easily treatable with chemotherapy. I consider myself lucky--and its the rare pain symptoms I had (and challenging doctors that just because I had pain doesn't mean "its nothing") that allowed me to get a hold of this disease early.
So what’s next?
I start chemo, 5 Dec, doing 2 cycles, 3 weeks per cycle with no gaps. Week 1 (of each cycle) will be 5-7 hours of chemo a day. Week 2 and 3 are 1-3 hours of chemo on Tuesdays--every Tuesday I get (low-dose) Cisplatin, the life saving chemo that drastically changed the prognosis of these cancers but unfortunately comes with the side effects which I'll be feeling Thursdays. This should all wrap up 0n 10 January 2017. Not the best way to bring in the New Year, but it can always be worse and this will give me just better perspective.
Through this process I'm capturing things, lessons learned through the experience, medical things for other future TC and chemo-facing patients to learn from. In addition, this helps many of us put a face to cancer, and hopefully we all look at each other differently knowing that behind those eyes could be potentially someone who faces their own hidden battles (whether it be cancer or something else!); hopefully the world gets a little less judgmental overall. Lastly, its to talk about cancer without fearing the word or giving it any more power over us as it already has. Open discussion around the topic is healthy and shouldn't be shunned or ignored. It is this reason why I'm being so transparent about this--at least now with more answers than questions (where before, it was question after question and it was a pretty fluid and dynamic situation).
I'm taking this unfortunate situation of mine, grabbing your attention, and hopefully turning it into a positive experience for everyone.
In a previous life, I've had the privilege to work as a Dept. of Defense (DoD) civilian for about 8 years. I've worked with and for some amazing Service members (USAF, USN, USA, USMC) and other DoD civilians. These people enter similar situations as I find myself in now, but knowingly enter such situations. They face life/death situations. They make sacrifices too rarely discussed--such as deployments and time away from family, high stress situations affecting others, injuries, post-traumatic stress. Unfortunately, many attempt to take their own lives because they don't get the help they need.
"Pets for Vets" (a 501(c)(3) organization) helps get them the support. It takes Pets, who are in need of a home as well, and transitions them to Vets who need that unconditional love. It is a truely amazing program that I hope to get even more involved in when all this cancer funny business is over. These pets all come from shelters. More can be learned here:
So, my goals are to get your attention, share my story, and get us to all jointly focus on something greater than any one of us. This is truely impactful across species.
And the best part--Microsoft, my employer, will match up to $15,000 of these donations.
Goals:
- Raise awareness of Testicular Cancer, and all cancers really; nothing beats early detection
- Raise awareness of Cancer in general; be aggressive and don't let a doctor or anyone dictate how aggressive you approach this (pain is rare in my case and led to at least 2 weeks of wasted time). Be able to talk about cancer without giving it anymore power than it deserves.
- Turn a negative situation into a rather positive one.
Thanks to...:
- Microsoft, who isn't just my employer or a company providing me great healthcare, but will match these donations up to $15,000
- Support team: this includes my family, friends and girlfriend, Nicole. All have been amazing and super supportive. Oh, and I have an amazing Goldendoodle "Teddy" who does his fair share of supporting me as well :)
- To you, even if you don't donate, to have read this. Hopefully you will have a slightly different view of the world with a little less judgement leading to overall healthier interactions with those around us. If the current political environment has shown us--we can all do a little more (::cough cough:: or a lot more) listening than talking...
Organizer
Andrew Harris
Organizer
Huntington Station, NY