Tony Ledford

An annual wellness exam. January 29th. Just another routine appointment in our day to day schedule. We were excited for the new year and all God had in store for our growing family. Things were going well, very well in fact! Tony and I had just returned from a fun trip to the Monterey peninsula in California, where we had celebrated our honeymoon almost 28 years ago. Part of that trip included an incredible conference that we went to, called Live to Love. We came home inspired by what Jesus had spoken to us. Little did we know at the time, God was preparing us for the trial of our lifetime.

At Tony's physical, our doctor noticed something off in Tony's bloodwork. His liver enzymes were off, indicating elevated iron levels. This led to an ultrasound of his abdomen, which led to a CT scan, then a biopsy and LOTS of bloodwork in between. Another ultrasound of his groin confirmed testicular cancer. It had spread to 2 lymph nodes in his abdomen (which we found is very common). 
 Three weeks after Tony's wellness exam, we were told he would be having surgery to remove the testicle with the tumor in it. That surgery is in just 2 days from today. The next step is to begin chemo possibly next week. We are praying and trusting this has not spread anywhere else. Tomorrow Tony has a CT scan on his chest/lungs to determine that. After 4 rounds of chemo, our oncologist will determine if the 2 lymph nodes in Tony's abdomen will need to be removed.
We have total PEACE that God has got this! He's already answered prayers that this is not lymphoma or any of the other disturbing original diagnoses that our doc was speculating. We are confident that God's promises are true, and that He will work this out for the good of all of us who love Him. He has already given us several words of encouragement and awesome scriptures to meditate on. We'll be sharing some of these in the journal entries, as well as updates as we move forward.
We are beyond grateful for all of our family and friends walking this journey with us!