J. Meier

In September of 2022 just 5 weeks after my daughter was born, I was diagnosed with an aggressive stage 4 stomach cancer called linitus plastica. Originally the doctors had said that if it was stage 4 there really wasn’t much they could do, and we would do mild treatments to give me a bit more time. My original surgeon had even said he never had a patient get from where I was to the stomach removal surgery required to beat this specific cancer. Fortunately, my doctor changed his mind and said if I was willing to fight, he would work to cure me.

After months of some pretty strong chemo treatments, we were on to the next step. As my cancer doesn’t show up well on any scans, we had no way of knowing how well the treatment worked other than surgery. By mid-February I was ready for the surgery to find out how my cancer was doing and to do a HIPEC treatment often called “hot chemo” where they heat up my body as well as the chemo, put it directly into my abdomen, and shake my body around for 90 minutes or so. Recently I got the results back from the surgery and all the sites that had cancer tested negative for live cancer cells and I now qualify for stomach removal surgery. It’s a miracle to beat the odds and be where I am today. I have a long road ahead through more surgery and recovery, but I have a chance at more life with my wife and daughter and I’m so grateful for that.