Kevin Cook Cook Family

Dearest Family and Friends,

I am finally getting around to getting our Caring Bridge site set up so that you can all be updated in one place. Thank you in advance for your love, concern, support, and prayers.

It amazes me how life can change in a matter of a few weeks. Long story short... after suffering with extreme lower back pain, Kevin went to see his spine doctor/surgeon mid-August and was sent for an MRI. It was determined that he had a "broken back”. Without getting into too much detail, had 2 crushed vertebrae causing nerves to be pinched, etc. The surgeon recommended reconstructive surgery as soon as possible but was concerned about a dark area he saw close to the spine and referred us to an oncologist. The oncologist did lots of bloodwork and ordered a CT scan and bone scan. All of these were done quickly, and the oncologist called to tell us he believed that Kevin had prostate cancer which had moved outside of the prostate. The diagnosis would need to be confirmed by a biopsy of the area on Kevin's spine which he believed to be a tumor. Needless to say, this was not the news we had been hoping for. After our call with the oncologist, the spine surgeon called and said he could do the back surgery 3 days later, 8/31. During the surgery, he did reconstruction of the crushed bones, biopsies and removed the tumor. I am happy to report that Kevin is healing nicely and getting stronger every day. The surgery did relieve the extreme pain in his lower back. Instead of a typical 6-week recovery period, after his surgical follow up appointment this past week, he will be back in the saddle after only 4 weeks of recovery. 

We received a call from the spine surgeon on 9/7 confirming that the tumor that was removed was in fact prostate cancer. We saw the oncologist 9/9 to come up with a treatment plan which Kevin started that day. He also talked with us about a promising clinical trial that he would be putting Kevin's name in for. Kevin will be doing hormone suppression (started 9/9), radiation (will start 9/28), and chemo (will find out more about start date at our next oncologist appointment 10/7). We will also find out if Kevin was accepted into the clinical trial 10/7.

Thank you for the support that our family has already received, and I know will continue to receive because we have amazing family and friends... emails, calls, texts, meals, cards, and many prayers. I especially want to thank my dear friend Kendra for all of the many updates that she has been sending out on our behalf. I have strong faith and believe in the power or prayer... so, keep those prayers coming.

With much love and thankfulness,
Marty