This story is about my encounter with cancer, which happened in 2014. I had a near-death experience, and was rushed to Kaiser Zion medical facility in San Diego, CA. My doctor, Dr. Tomssi met me in the ICU and let me know that my body was struggling with issues regarding the bowel. I was excreting dark colors, almost purplish in color, which indicated blood. I had lost about four pints of blood and it would have led to death. I think God saved me from that near-death experience. In February of 2014, Dr. Tomssi found evidence of cancer from lab tests and let me know about the results. Of course, I was very upset, I believed that my future was near its end. I was in shock, and to add more to it, I was required to use colostomy bag, receive radiology for chemo. All in all it was a shocking experience, and I naturally rejected the idea, because it was so uncomfortable. Dr. Tomssi encouraged me to explore those options because it would save my life, and prevent the cancer from increasing its stages. Dr. Tomssi mentioned that he had found something on my right lung that could be unstable later, so I should consider preventive measures. Dr. Tomssi encouraged that I lead a stress-free life and explore healthy lifestyle to prevent the stages from increasing. I naturally agreed. I had gone into bouts of depression and Dr. Tomssi’s office had tried to reach out to me for appointments and follow ups, to which I neglected. At one point I gave in and went to see the doctor, Dr. Tomssi was very humble and gave me positive spirits where he encouraged me to get a check-up for any cancer indications. Two days later the office reached out to me via phone and told me that I had indications of cancer in the rectum. I decided to proceed with radiation, chemo, and mental health counseling.

I had regularly attended chemo therapy and saw Dr. Zimmer for the process, but my wife was controlling, and did not agree to the entire process. She did not believe the therapy would help fight cancer, my wife had the family move to Virginia then in Wisconsin during the process, so I lacked stability and support from home. My mind and body was equally weak and it felt like I was always in a body of water, my memory was always lapsing. My memory went away as did my body, it seems to be about sixty percent loss. In February of 2019, I moved back to San Diego, and Dr. Zimmer was my doctor again, and we had a scan again. It turned out that my cancer had progressed to stage four and instead of one spot, I now had six spots. I was encouraged to sign up for the LifeLine Mentor program and I was assigned with Melissa Crouse who is very humble and encouraging to me. My family is all very worried about me and is grateful that I have this kind of support from different agencies. This is especially important seeing as I had lost my son not too long ago due to suicide as a result of PTSD from the armed forces. I value the support I get from LUNGevity.org, and that place is where I feel at home, and safe.