Joshua's Cancer Journey

Hello, My name is Cecilia Bridge, and I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support as my husband bravely battles cancer. Your kindness means the world to our family during this challenging time. Please remember this: Joshua's story reminds us to listen to our bodies. If something doesn't feel right, it's important to seek medical help. Don't ignore the subtle signs – they could make all the difference. We're grateful to still have Josh with us, but his journey is ongoing. We hold onto hope for better days ahead and we're committed to supporting him every step of the way.

We've had a lot of people asking how they can help, and while we usually only ask for prayers and good thoughts, our wonderful friends and family have encouraged us to accept a little extra support. We are a proud family and asking for help doesn’t come easy or naturally. The truth is Josh has been unable to work and will not be able to do so for some time. And the truth is we need help.We have established this GoFundMe to alleviate some of the stress and hardships that Joshua and his family are facing due to medical and living expenses.Thank you in advance for showing your support for this deserving man who has selflessly given the shoes off his feet to a person in need on the streets. Myself and our children, Jared and Oliver are forever grateful.

Our lives changed in a matter of 24 hours. My husband was very sick. Josh went into the ER with stomach pain on October 4th 2022, only to awaken in the ICU after undergoing a life-changing emergency surgery. After 22 days in the ICU and 16 of them on life support, he was able to breathe on his own and was fighting the fight, progressing every day!

He was on the path to healing, but this was a slow process and patience is something we had to learn to have more of. Once Josh was able to understand what was happening around him, we had to deliver more unfortunate news of what his recovery would look like for the future. While he won the initial battle, the real fight was to come. When the pathology report came back from his surgery, we found out Josh had Colorectal Cancer.

This was a complete shock to Josh given that he didn’t even understand why he was in the hospital to begin with. While the doctors were confident, they cut all the cancer out, continuous checkups would be in our future to determine if this were true. After almost getting to what we thought was the finish line of a year cancer free, Joshua's scans showed the cancer was back. Devastated, we tried to wrap our heads around the next steps.

Josh is a fighter; I am so proud of this man for not giving in or giving up! He had choices to make, and I was there to support whatever those were, but we needed to make sure we had all the answers and the truth from the doctors we were trusting. We agreed that having a team in Houston at MD Anderson and one here in Oklahoma was the path we were choosing. For the last 7 months, we have been working with the Cancer Center here at Baptist and MD Anderson in Houston. Josh started Chemotherapy on October 30, 2023 and I have seen the destruction cancer has on lives, firsthand. He has some good days, and we celebrate those, and the rest we just try to make sure he is comfortable and staying focused on the end goal! Thank you for your love and understanding.

Josh & CC Bridge