Fighting Stage 4 Colon Cancer, He Leaned on the Power of Hope скачать в хорошем качестве

Fighting Stage 4 Colon Cancer, He Leaned on the Power of Hope

Knowing his extensive and tragic family history of colon cancer, you might have forgiven Joe Gebara if he had just given up after being diagnosed himself. But you don’t know Joe Gebara, or the power of hope. See how specialists at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute worked to cure him from one of the world’s deadliest cancers. [Transcript] I remember like it was yesterday. It was August 3rd, 2021. I remember being wheeled downstairs, getting the colonoscopy done. The doctor was there and told me it's definitively cancer. We discovered that it metastasized to my left lung. So in my family, I'm number eight with colorectal cancer. My mother passed away of colon cancer, my sister five years earlier passed away of colon cancer, both of them diagnosed as stage four, like me. I understood what my likely high outcome would be and I accepted it, but, of course, not losing hope, not giving up. So colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers that are diagnosed in the US and worldwide. It represents the third-most common cause of death from cancers. Joe was diagnosed with rectal cancer. It was stage four cancer. So Dr. Chuong was real honest and never allowed me to give up. In terms of the perspective of how we should manage patients with stage four cancers, really has evolved in the last, y'know, decade or two, that potentially actually can have long-term survival and even potentially be cured if appropriate aggressive therapy is offered. And that's why we recommended both radiation and chemotherapy before his surgery. So the first part of my treatments were radiation for an entire week and I had chemo four days a week. After that was my total colostomy. I decided I didn't want to risk cancer coming back. We made it that far. I have a colostomy back for the rest of my life and I absolutely love it. And my last surgery was July, 2023 with Dr. DeRosimo, where he removed part of my left lung, the last bit of cancer in my body, and I'm nearly two years cancer-free now. Joe is definitely a man full of life and really has a positive attitude, and attitude is so much of the cancer battle. The toughest times aren't the pain. It's the way you have to manage your emotions. Will I walk my daughter down the aisle? My wife and I have been together 31 years. How many more days, right? So I didn't see cancer as a win or loss as to whether I survived or passed away. I saw my battle as, "How many days can I stretch out of this?" And that allowed me to maintain hope, because I'd be winning every day until my last breath. We're not there yet. Hope, I think, comes from everyone around you. My wife, my kids just really stepping up, the team at Miami Cancer Institute. I am excited that Joe has had such an amazing outcome and that our group here was enthusiastic about trying to achieve what, y'know, a long time ago we thought was not possible. It is beatable. It is treatable. The earlier any cancer is caught, the more beatable it is. So here's my simple message about getting screened. Just do it. Life is so good. You really learn to enjoy the little things. My goals aren't five years out anymore. It's literally today and with a cautious eye towards the future, but living today for today and being healthy.