Stand with Dr. Ford in His Cancer Journey

Dr. John Ford is a proud ER physician for St. Vincent's in Kokomo, Indiana. This is not a job but a passion and lifelong dream.

He was diagnosed with Stage 4 inoperable Colorectal Cancer in 2022; he immediately started chemo and would work or participate in the Air National Guard at any chance he had. His love for serving and caring for people has never diminished. He has used his diagnosis and treatments to find ways to connect to his patients and find more empathy for their struggles.

His love, passion, and drive have always been to serve and care for others. He has worked hard and given everything possible of himself to continue working in the ER and the military. He has used this to highlight the tradgedy of our troops that have served over seas and have come home to find the same diagnosis.

He has already influenced many others who care and know for him to be checked, and with that influence, several others were diagnosed or treated early enough not to know the sadness of this disease.

John grew up serving others. He started in the Boy Scouts and progressed past Eagle Scout to participate in the Order of the Arrow.

He served a mission for the Mormon church in Oregon, and when he returned home, he joined the United States Air Force. He has a drive and passion to serve and care for others and their needs above his own, and he always puts himself second in everything he does.

John was a medical technician and was valued highly in the military. He was sent to specialized training and served an overseas tour at PSAB and Qatar. When he returned, he was chosen to be trained as an IDMT. After he graduated, he decided to follow his lifelong dream to be an Osteopathic Physician in rural and emergency medicine. He attneded WVSOM in rural West Virginia and found that the pople and place stole his heart and soul.

After residency in Ohio and Indiana, he accepted a position to do an emergency medicine fellowship and gain the experience he needed.

In 2022, he was diagnosed with advanced stage 4 colorectal cancer. It metastasized to his liver by the time he was diagnosed; he fought like hell to shrink the tumors and become operable for a liver resection, which he received in December 2023. He has since been told the tumors were back and, at this point, untreatable.

He has weathered a regime of chemo that was extra hard and was a hail mary that worked; he received a device to put chemo directly to his liver and thrived through that; he received a liver resection and then an ileostomy. Upon removing the rectal tumor, the extent of the spread to other areas was made clear to him.