Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mary on January 22, 2008 at 9:52am

Bless everyone in their struggle. My father-in-law who has been a firefighter and EMT for almost 30 years has been struggling with lung cancer for 7 months. 2 rounds of chemo and starting the 3rd today, but the cancer keeps spredding. My husband and I both are firefighters and I know that I wouldn't be one if it wasn't for them. It is so hard to see a loved one go through this. Good luck to each of you in your journey.

Permalink Reply by INNER CIRCLE FIRE TRAINING on May 14, 2008 at 9:17am

I appologize in advance if this is not appropriate. I am NOT a firefighter with cancer, but in twisted event one of our brother in GRFD has a 3 year old daughter currently going through KEMO. As a training company we have decided to take on the philonthropic project of raising money for children of firefighters with cancer. Allison is our poster child and we will be helping her family first. If you feel that this is an appropriate place to post, thank you for you concern and support.

http://www.innercirclefiretraining.com/index.php?page=real-heros


Inner Circle Fire Training,
Michael Waldron

Permalink Reply by Brian White on May 22, 2008 at 12:31am

two years ago , may 16th 2005 i was diagnosed with "chronic myologenic(sp?) leukemia . "(CML). I had symptoms like , bruising easy and it felt like i had an ulser. the kicker was when i would close my eyes and i would see purple floaters . that went on for a couple of days. i dissmissed them mainly cause im a plumber during the day and im always banging into stuff or getting junk in my eyes. when the purple floaters started to show up with my eyes open i figured i should get it checked out. just a minor footnote , i never get sick! if i get a cold it only lasts a day or two. i never go to the dr. cause there never was a need. on may 14th i went to the eye dr. expecting her to pull something out . she said , " you have a hemerage behind your eye and you need to see a specialist , ..... today!" so i drove an hour and a half to Greenbay Wi. and the specialist said he wasn't sure why this was happening so he ordered a blood test that day. the next day the 15th he called back and said that i had an elevated white count. a normal # is between 7 - 10,000 , mine was 165,000. NOT GOOD ! the eye doc said i sould see a hemotoligist. the eye doc recomended some one . we called him and he was in a town close to us the next day so we made the appt. on th 16th we drove forty five minuets north to Iron Mountain Mi. met the doc and he walked into the room carrying my chart and said......" yep you have leukmia." just like that. it turns out that his practice is in greenbay, so we drove home , dropped the bomb on freinds and family packed some stuff drove to greenbay. i was treated with the latest and greatest drugs ( chemo ) and five days later they sent me home. i responded great with the chemo pill i was on for a hole year. all my blood counts started to level off and i was back working within a week. not full days but anything is better than laying around the house staring at walls!!!! at the exact one year mark the doc told me that the screwed up chromosomes were starting to increase insted of decreaseing. NOT GOOD! the doc said we need to start thinking about a bone marrow transplant. early in this ordeal the doc said in the five years the drug i was on has been out he hasn't sent anyone to transplant. then theres me. so he starts me on the next best drug that is.." only a bridge .." to get me to transplant. that one at the dosage percribed kicked my butt, so he said to cut the dose in half and see how i tollerate it. that was the ticket, i felt great, normal .......as normal gets. they started looking for a doner and looking and looking . turns out that if i didn't have bad luck , i wouldn't have any at all!!!! i have a goofed up DNA strand so it makes it very hard to get the perfect match. they say if you have at least four siblings one would be a match, well as my luck goes , i have six brothers and sisters and not one is a match. well after some looking a match has been found. the hospital in madison wi. said that some time in january '08 they would do the transplant. in december some freinds organized a benifet for me to help with the bills when i go in the hospital, ( three months they say ).just for the record , i live in the greatest community on the face of the planet!!! well i went to the january doctors appt. and he walked into the room with my chart in his hand and said, "we are going to hold off on the transplant .......because your in remission !" just like that! now there are three stages of remission so i asked which one ? " full mollecular (sp?) remission" SWEET!!!!!! so now im in a holding pattern, every three months i get a blood test and they tell me if im still in remission or not. that was probably alot more information than you really needed to know, but i feel im greatly blessed! i love to tell that story because through all of it GOD has been very faithfull !! he has blessed me with the best wife a guy can get , three of the most beutifull girls in the world, ( thats harder to deal with than the cancer....BOYS..ugh!!! )even greater than that , is that i know that some day if the leukmia gets me or old age gets me , i know , i will spend eternity with him . that was the smartest thing i have ever done,excepting jesus as my savior. i hope that in my story you can find comfort , it helps me every time i tell it.and it gives me a chance to tell people what a great and awsome GOD that i serve , and how he helps me deal with a terrible disease one day at a time. there is a sunday school song you may have heard, " count your blessings , name them one by one. count your blessing see what GOD has done." i suggest that evryone should try that . if you dwell on the bad stuff it will only bring you down. thanks.

Permalink Reply by Todd Colitti on September 24, 2008 at 9:43pm

I am a stage IV Colon Cancer survivor, I was diagnosed in 1999, at age 35. I had surgery to remove 1/2 my colon, 1/3 of my liver, my appendix, and my gallbladder. I went through a year of chemo, and am still on the line as a firefighter, 9 years later.

I am a mentor for the firefighters cancer support network.

I am also actively involved in raising awareness with a group called "The Colon Club" I am in thier 2009 cancer survivor "Colondar", calendar.

Permalink Reply by Tammy on June 23, 2009 at 3:26am

I was 25 yrs young with a 14 month old daughter and was diagnosed with Stage 1 Cervical Cancer (July 2004). I was lucky and it was caught early. I had an in office surgery and was sent home within about thirty minutes. At my follow-up visit, I was told that it would be difficult to have another child and if my husband and I planned on having more we needed to do it ASAP (no pun intended).

In November 2004, we found out I was expecting our second child. We called my doctor and scheduled my first appointment so they could verify that I was pregnant and to see how far I was. At that visit, they took blood, ran the test and told me I was only about 10 to 14 days pregnant. I thought they were wrong so I pulled out a calendar and figured up that I was at least 5 to 6 weeks. When I told my doctor what I thought he requested me to return in a couple days to check blood work again. When I did, the test showed my levels to be that of someone that was only 4 weeks. This went on for 2 more weeks and my doctor had already told me that he suspected a tubal pregnancy. After the pain became unbearable, I reluctantly agreed to treatment and was given Methotrexate shots in my hips (December 18, 2004). I was lucky my tube had not ruptured and killed me, according to my doctor. Since I was given the Chemo drugs, I was not able to try for another pregnancy for 3 months.

It was almost 6 months to the day I received the shots (May 21, 2005), I found out I was expecting again. *FYI-May 21st is my husband's birthday* Excited I sat and figured up my due date and it was amazing, I was due on my birthday, January 20, 2006. My daughter ended up being born on New Year's Day 2006 due to complications.

I thank God everyday that he has given me the two beautiful girls I have and the wonderful husband that lets me stay home to take care of them. I have been Cancer free for FIVE YEARS next month and pray that I can grow old and watch my girls grow up. They both want to be Fire Women just like Mommy, oh or a firefighter just like Daddy,but I want to be able to help teach them the tricks of the trade.

Sorry for my rambling, but every time I tell my story I get a smile because I know GOD has something special planned for me. Thanks for reading. TCSS ~Tammy~