Johnny Roland Johnny&JesusUnderTheHood

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. It is our desire to keep you, our family and friends, updated and this is a beautiful tool for helping us communicate with greater ease. Because we know you love Johnny too, we wish to share what has transpired over the last few weeks and the reason we have created this site. The Roland family covets your prayers and deeply appreciates your support, as well as your words of hope and encouragement. During the last week of May Jennifer and Johnny were enjoying a beautiful time together, in Anna Maria Island, Florida, when a few vague symptoms (bouts of momentary confusion along with some significant fatigue) began to appear. Because Johnny has worked endless hours seven day a week for years on end doing what he loves, which is serving his beloved customers and community, it was easy to initially chalk these symptoms up to exhaustion. When these symptoms appeared again after they returned home, Jennifer immediately took him to the doctor. Blood work quickly revealed dangerous calcium levels and the doctor advised them to seek immediate treatment at the ER. Thanks to a medical team that has already proven to be a true gift from God, additional scans and tests unfortunately revealed that Johnny is suffering from “Stage 4 Clear Cell Metastatic Renal Cancer”. 

Further tests showed involvement in the lungs and lymph nodes (with “over 30 spots” found on his lungs) and one of his kidneys is a “solid mass”. The other kidney remains healthy which is very good news. The doctors were astounded that he was still standing and without any of the symptoms they would expect at this stage of the disease. Jennifer and Johnny said “THAT IS GOD”! They said the lead doctor got tears in her eyes because of the strength of their faith shining through the darkness! The brain and bone scans have come back clear which is also a huge praise because those areas of the body are often affected with this specific type of cancer when it reaches this advanced stage. The other silver lining is, although this cancer has metastasized, all of the cancer is of the same type. This means they are not fighting multiple forms of the disease at the same time.

Moving forward, Jennifer and Johnny have been told that although there is “no cure”, there can be effective treatment to help tame the unwelcome visitor that has invaded his body. Due to continuing dangerous levels of calcium, and also dehydration, Johnny spent multiple miserable days in the hospital during the initial diagnostic phase and, since his release, has been going almost daily to the infusion center to have these unhealthy levels treated. A port has been placed in his chest so that further treatment can begin immediately. Johnny will be receiving “immunotherapy” which is treatment of the disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. The expected plan is that he will undergo 4 rounds (one every other week) and will have further scans on or about August 9th to determine the success of the treatment. The Roland family knows that God CAN fully heal Johnny’s body should it be fully pleasing to Him as a part of His Divine Plan for Johnny’s life. Hope abounds no matter what His plan is! Although Jennifer and Johnny and their precious family were surprised by this news, our God was not surprised nor shaken. 

Words from the Roland’s son-in-law, Adam, sum up our “Our Johnny” perfectly: “He doesn’t have a Hyundai engine, he’s got a Lexus engine. He doesn’t break down after 100k miles. He runs when he’s tired, he don’t complain, and he don’t break down. He’s gonna last forever”. Thank you for visiting our site and for praying for, and loving our family so well, especially in the midst of this serious illness and most challenging season of life. Our God is a Mighty God and we put all of our faith, hope, and trust in Him. We know that Jesus truly is with Johnny “Under The Hood”!

Surely God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2 NIV