Chris Nowak

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.


Friends and Family,


It is hard to believe that about 1 year ago, I was setting up a Caring Bridge site for David. Life has continued to present us with challenges and today, I write to share my story. Late this spring, I began to notice that I was more tired that normal. I really believed it was a combination of working two jobs, caring for David, still trying to get settled in our new home and caring for David's brother. By mid summer, additional "symptoms" appeared and after dragging my feet, finally went to my doctor. A couple of courses of antibiotics and by mid-August, I wasn't feeling any better. He decided to do a chest x-ray and my journey began. On Tuesday, October 16th, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I don't know a lot other than it is in the upper left lobe of my lung.... Testing to determine stage and spread will begin at the end of this week.


While I am committed to having treatment in South Bend, I have enlisted the help of Mayo Clinic for a 2nd opinion. They worked miracles for David and I want to make sure that I explore all options and opinions before deciding on any course of action. For those who know me well, I need to have all the information so I can have a plan.


As with David, we have so many friends and family spread across the country, CaringBridge makes the most sense to keep everyone up to date in one place. Please know that I won't post every day and please never feel obligated to accept the invitation to follow the updates. 


Know that your friendship and love mean the world to me!