Cancer sucks

There’s really no other way to sum it up. Everything about it sucks. Being told you have it, all the tests, figuring out the course of treatment, Drs, Drs & more Drs. Then you start the treatment... maybe it involves surgery, chemo, radiation, etc...

But there’s one sure thing. It sucks. 

One year ago today Trevor had his cancer removed. Unfortunately his voice box had to go with it. This decision didn’t come lightly, from Trevor or the Drs. But it was done to save Trevor’s life. Trevor had Osteosarcoma, which is a bone cancer. His was in his throat surrounding his voice box. No Dr at any of the 3 Mayo Clinic’s or any of the other experts they reached out to had ever seen Osteosarcoma in someone’s throat. As his Oncologist likes to say, Sarcomas are mean, nasty cancers. They like to spread. 

So, a year ago today Trevor had his third and final surgery to get rid of this beast. And it was a success! He was in surgery for 7 1/2 hours. The nurses there were amazing and quickly became not just his caretakers but our friends. Helping us navigate this new life for Trevor with lots of help, advice and encouragement. Trevor was in the hospital for 5 days, and we stayed in Rochester for 3 weeks so he wouldn’t have to travel with his feeding tube. 

Trevor had to learn to talk all over again, learn to navigate all this new equipment and all the other issues that come with having a laryngectomy. 

First and foremost in all of our decisions from the very beginning of this crazy journey were our kids, Emily and Cooper. They were always first in our minds. Emily left Alabama and came home to stay with Cooper. She is now back in Atlanta, in school, has a job that she loves and just recently moved into her own apartment with her kitty, Theo. Cooper is now a senior in HS and looking at colleges that are far away 😢 to pursue his sports broadcasting career. The last year and a half has been very hard for them but they have had so much support from their wonderful friends, Coopers school, our friends/neighbors, family and most of all each other. 

Trevor continues to get scanned every three months for the first three years and then probably 2 or 3 times a year forever possibly. So far all scans have come back clean. We can’t say enough good things about Mayo Clinic and the Drs, nurses and support staff there who we love dearly and are like family to us. 

So, if you’ve made it this far, thank you. 😂🙌🏻

We are beyond thankful for all of our family and friends who have called, texted, emailed, sent food, helped with the kids, shown up with beer just to hang out with Trevor 😂 even when he couldn’t talk, and most of all kept us in your prayers. It has meant the world to us. 

This will be my last post on here. Thank you for keeping up

with Trevor’s journey. Trevor has definitely been a warrior through this whole ordeal. 

To all cancer warriors out there, we are praying for you and the end to this horrible disease! 

God is so good y’all! ❤️🙏🏻

Mimi, Trevor, Emily, Cooper and Theo the cat