Po18guy thanks you all for your prayers

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po18guy

po18guy

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Yes, I took a sabbatical for a few months. Due to steroids and warnings, mainly. Since a stem cell transplant in July 2015, I have dealt with rejection issues, called "Graft-versus-Host-Disease, or GvHD. Unlike an organ transplant, I had my son’s immune system transplanted in me. My wife’s DNA is not even a close match. Of the 10 factors involved when considering a transplant, 5 matched and that was good enough to keep me alive and fight any remaining cancer cells. But, the steroids are killing me slowly rather than the cancers killing me quickly - a trade off.

At the end, I had three cancers simultaneously (prayer!) and the last traces were gone as of December 2017. I am striving, with God’s grace, to embrace the suffering that results from all of this - trying to be inspired by Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. And, I will tell you that it is far easier to look and sound like a Saint than it is be feel like one.

The inquiries as to how I was doing truly warmed my heart, and I am very thankful for them.
 
Thank you for posting ,I never knew of what you have been through and are going through…my own small worries are just that and even smaller hearing about your trials…God bless you,and your family Po18guy.I will remember you at mass .:pray:t4:
 
🙏🙏 I am so sorry to hear of your illnesses…I pray you continue to improve and get stronger! I would completely agree with you…it’s easy to talk about suffering until it actually happens to you. Please pray for all of us! 💐
 
It’s so nice to see you posting! Prayers for your health and wellness!
 
Thank you to all and may the Lord bless you! Boring story alert:

I boast only in the Lord, for through the prayers of the faithful, He has sustained me through the following: In 2008, I developed an aggressive T-Cell Lymphoma called Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma - Not Otherwise Specified. Diagnosed at stage IV, with 50+ tumors in my immune system. The prognosis was poor. Aggressive treatment (4 months involving 8 chemotherapy drugs) placed it full response, but it relapsed immediately, sending my prognosis to “extremely poor.” A clinical trial of a single agent experimental drug placed me in full response via constant treatment for 4 1/2 years. However, another relapse in 2013 in which the lymphoma split into two sub-types, the other being Angioimmunoblastic T-Cell Lymphoma. Stage IV again, with about 25 tumors and lymphoma invading my small intestine. Only one of the lymphomas would respond to any given treatment.

In the meantime, I developed Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a bone marrow cancer, from the treatment and radiation. So, three cancers simultaneously. A miraculous response to a semi-experimental three drug regimen placed me in full response once again, and I went from there to transplant. I received my son’s stem cells and so I am officially a chimera, and my blood type changed to his. To date, 18 chemotherapy drugs in nine regimens, four clinical trials, 1,000 years +/- of background radiation from scanning, TBI (Total Body Irradiation) to kill my marrow for transplant. Too many lymph node, bone marrow and skin biopsies to remember.

Now dealing with transplant rejection issues, accounting for the 4th clinical trial of an experimental drug. Faith obviously played a huge role in all of this. If you turned the calendar back to 2008, knowing what I know now, I would take the cancer again. I have traveled, met people, had experiences that I would never have without the cancer. Another blessing is that I have realized the purpose of my life. I encourage fellow cancer patients via the web and quarterly patient education seminars.

I do not consider myself a hero - only an enigma who persists through God’s grace. The 7,000+ prayers I received here certainly have something to do with it. As to suffering, I am striving to, as Fr. John Hardon SJ put it “Enjoy suffering for love of God.” My consistent failures in this regard are humbling, which is good for me.

At the cancer forum I help out at, our motto is “Don’t panic. Don’t give up.”
 
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God bless you, dear man~!

I am going to adoration tomorrow morning. I will carry you and your intentions with me and place them before the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Anyone else here have something you would like to pray for, please feel free to pm me.
 
To encourage those who have lost hope - and to suffer so that I may offer it for unconverted sinners. Yet, I am an unprofitable servant, doing only that which is expected of me.
 
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