There’s no way of sugar coating any of this. Our son Ryan, the one who made Gordon, Rebecca, and I parents first, the one who wore goggles in the backseat of the car when he was seven because they were cool and that’s how he rolled, the one who did the best snapping turtle impression in elementary school, the one who always watches out for his friends over himself, the one who ventured to work in the fields of North Dakota because it was a good growth experience, the one who has always been the most mature and responsible kid at whatever age, the one who met the love of his life five years ago and married her last month….. has cancer. Hodgkin’s lymphoma to be exact.

I’ll back up for a second or two, because one can’t lay a bomb like that down without some sort of explanation as to how we arrived at this point….

Despite Ryan and Holly’s wish to stay in Colorado forever, they moved to the metro-Phoenix area less than a month before their wedding. Ryan’s company had presented an amazing opportunity to them on an exciting new project and they were up for the adventure, so off to the land of gorgeous desert vistas they went. They finished coordinating both their move to Arizona and their wedding from their new home and then flew to Golden, Colorado for the big wedding week. Surrounded by the glorious foothills of the Rockies, we fell in love with them as a couple all over again. With full hearts, we watched our son become a husband and formally welcomed his beautiful wife into our family.

Have you seen photos of their big day yet? If not, we’ve uploaded a few to this site, check out the love. 

Ryan had lost a significant amount of weight before the wedding. The problem was that he hadn’t been trying to lose it. He hadn’t changed his diet, hadn’t changed his exercise routine, or made any other significant changes. He hadn’t been sleeping well either and had a constant itching sensation over his entire body. We were worried about it, but he had visited his doctor in Colorado who’d run tests and said everything had come back within normal ranges. All the above was chalked up to nerves and stress.

Unfortunately, the symptoms didn’t go away after the wedding and he visited with his new doctor in Arizona once they returned from their honeymoon. The doctor called him at 0900 on 15 May to ask if he could make it in to the office for a biopsy at 0945. “Um sure, of course I’ll be there in 45 minutes for a biopsy to check if I have cancer because of course that’s how I thought I’d be spending my day.” Ok, I added that last part, but I can’t imagine the shock of having a doctor say that to you, especially with the same sense of urgency. Several markers were out of range according to his bloodwork, and his doctor told him she thought there was a good chance he had cancer based on his symptoms and his test results.

We can all only imagine how horrifying that was for Ryan and Holly to hear. They’d just moved away from the only home they’d pretty much ever known and had no friends or family in the area. Ryan had only just started his new job and Holly was about to go look for a new job in a medical office to continue her career in medical administration. When life throws curveballs, they’re the 100mph ones, not the tortoise slow ones that you can prepare for and insulate yourself against.

The doctor couldn’t do a biopsy that day as the lymph node in his neck was too deep. Ryan had to be put under general anesthesia on Thursday, May 17 for the biopsy. His doctor (i.e. the cancer whisperer because we’re going to go with her being the best oncologist in the history of humankind) removed a golf ball size lymph node from his neck. Cancer whisperer 1, cancer 0. The next evening, Ryan was formally diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (sticking with cancer 0 because we just are).

The course of treatment will be chemotherapy over the course of several months paired with monthly CT scans to check the progress. But, first he must have a bone marrow biopsy and a port needs to be inserted, both of which require general anesthesia. The results of the bone marrow biopsy will show whether his body is still producing healthy cells which feed his lymphatic system. Praying the cancer whisperer gives us inspiring news.  The port will be used for his chemotherapy treatments (if you have any funny or humorous ways to pass time feel free to give us a shout). We’d greatly appreciate your prayers as Ryan will have undergone general anesthesia three times in less than two weeks by the time most of you read this.

While the journey is just beginning, the medical bills have already started arriving. Ryan has insurance, but there are out of pocket expenses that will need to be paid. Apparently, the average out of pocket costs for cancer treatment are normally a minimum of $30,000. Everyone responds to chemo differently, so we won’t know more about variances in treatment until he goes through this and the doctor can gauge the progress.

While I did write this with some humor, please don’t think we find any shred of this humorous. It’s more like a nightmare you can’t wake up from. It’s surreal in that you never think something like this will happen to your family, much less your child, and yet here we are. Our hearts and love are with Ryan and Holly, who both continually amaze and inspire us with their strength. Our prayers are for strength, courage, and total healing ahead. Our eyes are forward, and we pray you’ll Bless us with your prayers for healing, good thoughts, and love along this journey.