Life with a Spouse with Cancer..

2012 was the happiest year of my life and the saddest at the same time. 

This was the year our twins were born and days after I was told my husband had Cancer.

 With hormones running wild, a 5-year-old at home, being in the NICU with our twin boys, and holding on to every breath I could take..the news came in that my husband had Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma. Wait... WHAT??? This could not be true? How could this be? It was true and it was about to become our “new normal”. 

We started staging testing a few days after our boys were released from the NICU and the news was the worst we could ever imagine... NO options...Prognosis of 6-9 months… NO WAY!!! 

Giving up was not an option for us. With much research, we decided to head to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Upon our arrival, they said that cancer had spread to his  Lumph Nodes, Brain, Lungs, and was inoperable. So...what can we do? Nothing … NOTHING... Really? Sit and Wait for my best friend to die. HELL NO!!! 

We had one last option and that was a Clinical Trial Drug that was not yet FDA approved… so we said YES.. we will at this point sell everything but our children.  

Throughout the treatment, life didn’t take a break. A family parent dies, another becomes financially and emotionally dependent on us, friends tried to take financial advantage of us, thinking the fighter of the family won’t be around much longer to do anything about it, and our savings, retirement, and children’s education funds completely wiped out. 

Thanks to Moffitt Cancer Center the Clinical Trial worked and my husband beat the odds.. 6-9 months? Ummmmmm… NO… 7 years later my husband is still with us and we are so thankful! 

While all of this was going on. Many people asked me. What are you taking to get through this? Well, with a drawer full of prescriptions given to me by multiple doctors...I decided it was in the best interest of me and my family to face this head-on instead of masking my pain with prescription drugs. (My drug of choice became immersion..immersion in our children, our home, family needs, and anything else I could do so that my husband could remain focused on his treatment)

Do I judge anyone who needs prescription drugs? NO!! I don’t judge anyone..everyone is different and we handle things in our own way and I respect you for that. I admire anyone who is going through anything like this and can get out of bed.

I would love to hear about your journey.

Please email me your story at courtney@904badassmoms.com

Let’s open the door to discussion in hopes it will help others get through these hardest and darkest times. 

xo...