I am so incredibly excited to share this post with all of you. If you follow me on instagram (@survivorstateofmind), you know that I am starting a new category of blog post that allows other cancer survivors, patients, caretakers, or anyone else affected by cancer to share their stories. This category will be known as Survivor Stories! And here is Survivor Story #1!
This incredibly unique experience that you’re about to read was submitted by Evan, a cancer survivor living in Florida. Evan was told back in March of 2021, at age 43, that he had a Germ Cell Tumor in his chest. Later on, Sarcoma cells were found in this tumor as well.
Evan received chemotherapy for 24 hours a day for five straight days to begin his treatment. These treatments included four cycles of three different chemotherapy medications called V.I.P. To top it all off, he ended his treatment with a five hour surgery to remove any of the tumor that was remaining after those treatments.
Without further ado, I’d like to jump right into the heart of this post. I asked Evan to tell his story, in his own words, and in as much detail as he’d like. He asked that I make a few minor edits, but otherwise this is entirely his work. I hope you enjoy reading about Evan’s success story as much as I did!
“It started off with my face. It was very swollen, and my hands and ears turned blue. My legs got very skinny too, I woke up every night and couldn’t breathe. I passed out a few times when I woke up in the morning. We thought I had sleep apnea. One day after I went to the gym and took my shirt off I saw all these veins all over my chest. It was so weird because my chest was all blue. I went for a sleep test and they said I had severe sleep apnea and I stopped breathing 32 times an hour every night. So I thought after I got my sleep apnea machine everything would clear up. The next day I was coughing and coughing very bad and my breathing was slowing down. It was getting worse and worse. Finally my wife and sister told me I needed to go to the ER which I was scared to go to, but I ended up going to the one down the street from my house in St Petersburg. They did some scans and it showed that I had a very large mass on my chest. The doctor said I needed to go to a hospital where there are specialists. So we went to Tampa General that same night, I was admitted and they started running tests right away. I was there for 13 days and lost 23 pounds. They took a biopsy from the mass and found out it was a germ cell tumor also known as testicular cancer. It was very rare because they found it in my chest and didn’t find it anywhere else after scanning my whole body.
I was in the Trauma room for 7 hours then went to ICU for a few days then they moved me to the heart floor and then the Chemo floor. The urologist came in and said the treatment they were going to give me was called V.I.P. (etoposide (VePesid), ifosfamide, and cisplatin (Platinol). They said the first and second chemo would take an hour each and the third one would take 22 hours, I thought to myself ‘no way, I can’t handle that, what if I don’t do it?’ and the doctor said in his exact words ‘If you don’t do this you will die’ They had to put a port in my leg because the mass was in the way if they placed it in the chest (since my tumor was the size of my chest). Basically I was being suffocated from the inside out and the blood from my brain to my heart was being compromised.
After all of that, when I got home, I had a 2 week break in between. I was very weak, I had to use a walker and my wife had to give me a shower and make all my meals.
Round 2 and 3 of chemo was getting worse and worse. I would stop eating and was barely drinking, I was beyond weak. After round 3, a day after I came home, I felt like I was having a heart attack. My wife called 911 and they took me to the hospital in St Petersburg and found out I had a blood clot on my lung. So I was put on blood thinners for 6 months.
Round 4 I couldn’t believe it was my last round, I was so ready to be done. My last night there I went to use the bathroom and passed out and bumped my head on the floor. I had pulled the emergency chain and the nurse ran in and was able to catch me. I went down so fast, but she really saved me from busting my head open. Being I was on blood thinners they scanned my head to make sure I didn’t have any bleeding on my brain and luckily I was fine. I spent the last night on another hospital floor so they could monitor my heart throughout the night. The next day I was able to ring the bell on the chemo floor and all the nurses were clapping for me.
After all that they scanned me again to see how much the tumor shrunk. It went from 15cm down to 7cm and the surgeon I went to see said that I would need the surgery to get the rest out. September 9th I had the surgery, it was expected to take 2.5 hours but ended up taking 5 hours because the mass was on top of the main artery and attached to other organs in my body. He had to cut through my pericardium, take 15% of my lung and remove the phrenic nerve and repair a vessel. I needed 2 blood transfusions while in surgery also. My surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor in one piece with negative margins.
When the tumor was taken out and they tested it they found 20% live cancer cells called Sarcoma. I had a virtual visit with the Sarcoma doctor at Moffitt and she wanted me to get a second opinion because my case was so rare they hadn’t had a lot of research in this type of cancer at Moffitt. They referred me to the leading doctor for Sarcoma Cancer at Indiana University. I spoke to a doctor that treated Lance Armstrong, he said with the Sarcoma part of the tumor the best way to get rid of it is with removing it which I had the whole tumor removed so he suggested I didn’t need further treatment and I would just need to get my scans and bloodwork every 2 months for the first year.“
Evan completed his treatment and his surgery on May 17th, 2021, and is now back at home with his amazing wife and caretaker Shireen.
I always love talking to fellow survivors and patients because of the similarities that inevitably tend to come up. Talking to Evan and Shireen, it quickly became obvious that their relationship through treatment was similar to that of my wife’s and my own. We were laughing at some of the parallels between our stories. Shireen was Evan’s rock through treatment, and Evan jokingly (but also not-so-jokingly) called her his “second memory,” which was very funny because I have referred to my wife in a similar way. As I am sure some of you readers that have been through a trauma can agree, the brain tends to block certain “unwelcome thoughts” from memory.
My wife Shelby and Evan’s wife Shireen were having a blast talking about their similar caretaker tendencies and obstacles. Both were laughing about how Evan and I knew how to be difficult patients at times.
They are truly an inspiring and resilient couple.
While fighting for his life, Evan was able to learn quite a bit about himself. When I asked him what he learned, Evan told me that he really learned “how strong and brave I could be no matter how much I wanted to give up.”
Evan wants anyone going through something like this to remember to “stay strong and keep a positive attitude, never give up cause it will all pass.” He is extremely thankful for his support system, family, and friends.
I know first-hand how hard it can be to keep a Survivor State of Mind throughout a trauma like cancer. And I’ve seen how hard it is on a support system as well. Well, I can say that without a doubt Evan and his wife both have the Survivor State of Mind. They are both kind, funny, and upbeat people that won’t back down when a challenge arises.
One final similarity between Evan and I that I’d like to mention before I wrap up this post is our mutual reliance on the kindness of blood donations. Neither of us would be where we are today without the selfless donations of blood to organizations like The Red Cross. If you are healthy and able to do so, please consider donating blood. It doesn’t take much time or effort, but it is a critical component in so many different types of treatments to keep patients alive and feeling well.
I feel so blessed to have met Evan and Shireen, and I hope their story can inspire some of you the way that they inspire me.
Remember, with the right mindset, anything is possible. Evan is living proof.
Finally, if you would also like to share your story like Evan did, please reach out to me via my instagram or contact page (both linked below). I would be thrilled to talk to you!
As always guys, I’m available through my contact page if you have any questions, tips of your own, topics you would like to see covered, or just feel like chatting to someone that’s been through it. I am always here for you.
-Alex
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Featured image and all photos in this post are straight from Evan himself!