Andy Gilbertson

Updated on July 14th, 2020
Andy has a new diagnosis called MDS. We are still learning alot about what this means. Its a rare form of blood cancer that is affecting his bone marrow. He will need some more chemo, possibly some radiation and a bone marrow transplant. 

Created on July 29th 2017
Hello Family and Friends,
It is definitely surreal to be "starting" one of these pages. We will use this page to keep everyone informed of Andy's progress in one place.  I guess if you found this site then by now you realize that Andy was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  Obviously this came as a HUGE shock to us. I will share the story because although it is personal, maybe it can help anyone else with early detection. Most of you should know that Andy is recovering from a proximal hamstring avulsion. In laymans terms, he tore his hamstring and all the tendons from his bone and needed to have the entire thing reattached. He had this done on April 6th. We were informed that this would be an extremely painful process and that he would need a full 6 months to recover. He was to be non-weight baring and locked in a brace at 45 degrees for 6 weeks. The reason this is important is because while in the brace, Andy realized something was "up" with his balls.  He wasn't sure what and figured he would deal with that after dealing with the first injury. He handled surgery like a champ. 7 weeks post op and he was walking the property of the Atlantis like almost normal, despite his super small calf muscle on his right leg. Ha! We assumed he would still be in a wheelchair and yet he was like a machine. SO back to the balls... Fast forward to the week before 4th of July.  His right testicle was enlarged. We decide it can wait the week because we were  heading  to the mountains. We had an absolute blast with family and friends. We get back on July 5th and Andy heads to his general practitioner on July 6th to get this ball problem checked. His doc schedules an ultrasound for the following Tuesday. He tells him its most likely a hydrocele and not to worry. Fast forward to the day after the ultrasound. We get one of those calls, the ones you never want. "Come to the office immediately, we need to see you in person." So we go and hear those life altering words,  "You have cancer." We follow up a few days later with a urologist and he confirms the diagnosis and says Andy needs immediate surgery. Two days later Andy has the tumor removed and his testicle. We are still debating on his new nickname, lefty or Mr.  Uniball? We were praying that this would be the end of this little adventure and they would get it all with the surgery. However after surgery he had a few bioposes and a CT scan and they determined that the cancer had spread to most of his lymph nodes in his abdominal cavity. So we hear the next dreaded words, "Andy needs chemo." So that is where we are up to in this little saga. 
Here is where you come in. We desperately need your prayers and blessings. Prayers that the chemo will be 100 % successful. Prayers that Andy's body will stay strong through the treatments. Most importantly prayers for our kids to handle this in stride and remain faithful,

We appreciate every one of you and welcome any words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.