Roland Delzangle My dad - the hero

My dad, the provider, the guy who helped and was always there, the man who put family first, the man I wanted to be like, the guy who organized my garage when I moved to GA almost 3 years ago... has lung cancer or mesothelioma. At 88, and after after smoking for 40 years you can almost understand the lung cancer but meso? That possibility of meso takes dad back to pre-Korean War. He was in the Navy,  in the engine room for 3 1/2 years.  The USS Hobson 

The picture on the site is their 64th wedding anniversary dinner at the Tampa Waterside Marriott Hotel this past April. What a treat.  Since relocating to Atlanta I’ve had the pleasure of their company for more times than in the past and for this I am grateful. Sharing birthdays, anniversaries, Fathers Day and any other occasion I can think of has been wonderful. 

Being a cancer survivor myself, I didn’t realize that 15% of the cancer cannot be diagnosed. Unfortunately, dad doesn’t have RDL1 > 50%, his was 0%, so one treatment option is out. We are waiting for some genetic testing to see if we can find the “best” chemo for dad but the tests arent back. We found his cancer by accident. He had pain in his stomach, went for testing and they saw a shadow on his left lung. After images and drainage, we got the “C” diagnosis... your stomach just drops. Its an out of body experience... I think, really? Can’t mom and dad just continue on? What the heck? 

So here we, once again on a journey that we dont want to take but must. Dad will start chemo on 7/3/18, while we wait for additional tests. We are considering a transfer to Moffett Cancer Center, which is an excellent facility so stay tuned. In the meantime, please drop mom and dad a note - perhaps a fond memory of them, a picture you might have recently found, or just words of encouragement and of course prayer. We hope this site will help encourage all of us on this journey by positive messaging. Love you mom and dad and lets start this journey, side-by-side!! Jan