Joe Barkley

Welcome to Joe Barkley's CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your prayers and words of encouragement to Joe and our family.  This upcoming Nov 4th marks our 10th wedding anniversary.  Through our 10+ years together Joe has been a rock.  He is such a supportive and loving man.   His quirky sense of humor keeps me laughing.   His gentle spirit makes him an amazing father to our children.  He works hard to provide for our family.  And he works hard at home to make it a place of joy, laughter, and love.  It is now our turn to stand behind him and be the rock.  We will try to bring light and laughter to his days.  And we will work to make  home a place he can feel loved while he rests and recovers during his battle with cancer.

Joe's fight with cancer started last week.  He had some health issues that lead him to the urologist on Tuesday, October 11th.  He was told it was just an infection, take antibiotics and check back in 2 weeks if things weren't better.  But then on Thursday, October 13th Joe noticed a lymph node on the lower left side of his neck was really swollen.  Joe went to the ER and was there for about 5 hours.  While there  he had a number of tests, scans, blood work, and such.  The ER doctors told him they found nodes on his scrotum, in his lungs, his abdomen, and in the lymph node on his neck.  They said they said it looked like cancer but they could not tell him with certainty and encouraged him to see an oncologist on Friday.  

Just the mention of the "C-word" is scary.  It's surreal.  You read about it, hear about it, know people that have/are battling it...but you never think it will happen to you.  Or maybe at best you just hope with all your might it won't.  But for Joe it did.... On Friday, October 14th we had several appointments including meeting with an oncologist who confirmed our worst fear.  It is cancer.

And so the battle begins!