John’s Story

Site created on September 17, 2019

It was just another regular day on September 7, 2019 until John came home and told me that he had "another episode".  Approximately two weeks prior to this date we had been traveling to Charlotte and he had an episode where his left arm went numb and he felt dizzy with slight blurred vision.   The episode lasted about 2 minutes and resolved without any other problems or concerns.  We just disregarded it as stress and that maybe he was just tired.   September 7 this happened again.  He was sitting and talking with some friends and his left arm went numb.  He was completely alert the entire time and the situation resolved within 2 - 3 minutes.  This time we decided to go to the ER for evaluation and later that evening the doctor came in to tell us that John had a stroke and there was another "area on the CT scan that was concerning".  The report had been sent to a neurosurgeon at Vidant to look at and within a couple of hours we were told that we were being transferred to Vidant Greenville.  On Sunday we were transferred and later that evening a MRI was completed.  Monday morning on John's birthday the doctor came in to tell us that he had  not had a stroke but that he had six "small tumors" on his brain.  Further testing was performed and the primary site was located.  There was a tumor in the right upper lobe of the lung with some questionable involvement of the lymph nodes of the lung and the stomach.  A biopsy was completed and John was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell adenocarcinoma of the lungs with metastasis to the brain.   PET scan was done today September 17, 2019 to confirm the lymph node involvement.   Even though this is not the diagnosis anyone would ever want to hear we know that God is in control and will see us all through it.  There are a lot of positive things that have happened with the diagnosis and testing and that is what we will choose to focus on at this time.  We are thankful that we have the less aggressive cancer of the two and that we had no other organ involvement when the PET scan was done today.   I use the term "we" when discussing this because I will be with him every step of the way.  We will fight this together and we will beat it together.   God is going to show up BIG during this time in our lives and good things are going to come from this.  We know it.   

Newest Update

April 19, 2022

Journal entry by denisa smith —

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!

I could not wait to post this update!!!!  

"Resolved.  Complete response.  NO CANCER"  - just a few words we heard today after the PET scan.  I thought the words "No Cancer" sounded good the first time back in June 2020 but I am pretty sure they sounded even better today April 19, 2022.  

This man just amazes me - he has continued to fight and beaten the odds more than several times now.  We will no longer listen to statistics or percentages of life expectancy with Stage IV cancer with mets to the Brain because John Smith has shown when you fight this battle with positivity, determination, and God you can become you Very Own Statistic.  God has big plans for this man and I plan to stand right beside him and enjoy every bit of it.  

I wanted good results today in preparation for a good summer - today we received Great results and now are preparing for a Great summer and many more.  

He will have immunotherapy infusion today and continue those treatments every three weeks.  They also did a blood biopsy today to assess for any possible cancer cells that may be too small to show up on the PET scan, but if they are there - they will make adjustments.  I know that will be clear too but if there are cells less than 1 mm in size they don't stand a chance when John was able to just handle the treatment that resolved the others.  

So just know all is great in The Smiths world right now and we are so thankful for all of the prayers.  
Thank you to all that have text and called to check on us and let us know you were praying - we appreciate you all.  

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