Jeanne’s Story

Site created on January 20, 2021

He thought he was getting old. He thought he had an infection. He thought he had a parasite from rafting the Nile. We named the growth they saw on the scan “Sponge Bob”, because no way could it be anything more serious than any of these options. After all Will is one of the healthiest, kindest most resilient people we all know. Right?

Well, it turns out we missed all the signs, and “Sponge Bob” is in fact “aggressive and dangerous” bladder cancer. At least those where the words the urologist used to inform us that the biopsy results, from the growth Will had removed the week before, is in fact Carcinoma.

The words were so hard to comprehend that Will laughed and said, “In any scenario I never expected those words to come out of your mouth.” 
Wide eyed, and shocked I stopped breathing and cried. How could it be possible that Will Kidd, my kind, funny, adventurous, healthy, energizer bunny husband could have cancer? I never even knew there was such a thing as bladder cancer in someone so young. 

So, as much as I try to deny this each day, it’s time for us to let our friends know, that for the last four months Will has been living with Cancer and has been going through Chemo. We’ve kept this news private, only telling family and a few friends to process everything and plan for what’s coming next.

So, the good news is Will got to keep his beautiful hair. The bad news is he won’t get to keep his bladder. 

The day Will was diagnosed with “aggressive and dangerous”  bladder cancer, was Oct 19th, the day before Will’s 57th birthday, and the conversation went like this: “You have cancer, its aggressive and dangerous, it’s progressed into the muscle wall, you will be starting Chemo next week. You will then be going to Vanderbilt and having your bladder removed…..” That was it; clear, straight forward, cut and dry...”this is your path to be “cancer free”, he said

To Will those words came at us in slow motion, to me it was an all in one swift breath. And as much every day I want this to be different, it’s not going to be. I’ve never in my life been faced with a problem I couldn’t come up with multiple creative solutions to fix, but not this one. No matter how many ways I ask the question, the only path to Will becoming “cancer free” is taking his bladder out. 

Which means this week Will completes his last round of chemo and on March 8, he is having his bladder removed.

So, this is our news. At this moment there is not much more to say than this, but there will be more news coming and we will give updates here. We are grateful to be surround by a good family and close caring friends. 

 

Newest Update

Happy 1st Birthday NEO- March 8, 2022

Journal entry by Jeanne and Will Kidd —

Happy Birthday Neo!

 

March 8th, marked one year since I had my bladder removed, along with my prostate and most of the lymph glands in my pelvis.  In a miracle of modern medicine, my surgeon made me a Neobladder from section of my small intestine.  We named the new bladder Neo.

 

Last week Jeanne threw Neo his first birthday party!

 

It began with a return visit to Vanderbilt where I had the obligatory CT scan to examine all my innards.  I was, for the 3rd consecutive time this year, declared Cancer Free!  We also all agreed Neo was working just the way he is supposed to:  I am continent during all my waking hours and other associated functions have returned.  Yay!

 

Jeanne and I went to lunch and she secretly had the staff bring me a dessert with a candle in it, then we all sang Happy Birthday to Neo.  When we got back home there was another cake awaiting with ‘Happy Birthday Neo’ written on top!  Few bladders have been so well celebrated, I’m sure.  (If you’ve never done it, I recommend thanking yours for all it’s hard work. :)

 

The greatest news for my one-year mark is that I’m strong, working full time again, and starting to build back some fitness.  I only have one more infusion of Immunotherapy at the end of the month, and then I’ll happily have my ‘port’ removed.  I’m also grateful to say that our finances survived the $100k surgery and 13 of the $17k infusions, thanks in large part to you, dear readers and the support from other friends and family we received help from along the way.

 

We will keep this account for later updates, but for now all is well. Jeanne and I are relieved and grateful and looking forward to new adventures.

 

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR LOVE, INTEREST & SUPPORT!

Read More of the journal titled "Happy 1st Birthday NEO- March 8, 2022"
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