Print Page - Fighting cancer

I know that some of you already know parts of this but I thought I would pass along more of the story and some good news.
I have been fighting cancer for almost 3 years, colorectal to be specific. The good news is that last week I went through a series of tests and everything came back clear!
In August of 2010 a colonoscopy showed a tumor. A treatment regimen of chemo and radiation was started followed by surgery to remove the tumor in December of 2010. More chemo was given from February until May of 2011.
Unfortunately in in February of 2012 a tumor showed up on my liver. I was fortunate that the tumor was in a location on my liver where it was easily removed. That was done in March of 2012 and I started chemo again in April and it lasted until September of 2012.
Obviously there is a shit load more to the story but that is an overview of the details.
I told only a few people on the boards for a couple of reasons, the biggest being this: riding has always been my escape (just like it is for most everyone here I suspect). And as it is my escape I didn’t want my real life problems to leak into my fun life. It is not that I didn’t want anyone to know, it was more a case of me wanting to get AWAY from dealing with it by keeping the bulk of you folks unaware. That way I was simply “Mark, the guy with the Monster”, and not “The guy with cancer”. What better way to escape something as shitty as cancer and chemo then to go riding and not have to deal with it for a few hours?
While I would certainly have appreciated the support I would have undoubtedly received from everyone I was more appreciative to escape my problems all together.
Now that my life is not dominated by cancer/chemo I felt the time was right to come forward and let everyone know. I am back to working full time again so my life has gotten back to about as normal as it is ever going to be. As such I don’t feel as strong a desire to escape from my issues as they have been minimized. I am more than willing to talk about my experience and answer any questions should anyone have any.
I will undergo blood work again in about 2 months and another PET scan and blood work in about 4 months. With luck I will continue to be “clean”.
I want everyone to know how much being a small part of the group helped me in finding relief from what has been all in all a hell filled stretch. Having a place to be just plain old regular me was a tremendous benefit.
You guys were a HUGE source of comfort for me and most of you didn’t even know it!!
Thanks to all,
Mark

Ducati Monster Forum

Local Clubs => DFWM => Topic started by: Mhanis on April 28, 2013, 09:15:18 PM