Fighting Colon Cancer Stage IV

Hi, I'm Jas. I'm 38 years old and I have stage IV colon cancer.

I was diagnosed with stage III-B colon cancer in February 2018. My surgeon took out six feet of my intestines and did a colostomy. My stool now passes through an opening in my abdominal wall to a bag fastened to my abdomen. This bag has limited my activities. It has been difficult to play basketball because I was afraid that the bag might burst or get detached which I didn’t mind as much as not being able to carry my son or daughter as often and as long as they wanted me to. That is why I was very much looking forward to getting the bag taken out after the 8-cycle chemotherapy. However, test results after the chemotherapy revealed a mass in my liver. My surgeon who was supposed to perform a reverse colostomy advised me to have the liver mass addressed first.

Unfortunately, the next surgeon who opened me up to take out the mass found other lesions in my pancreas, abdominal cavity lining, and lymph nodes which he thought were more serious than that in the liver. He decided not to take out the liver mass until further tests have been done on the growth samples he took out. The results showed that the cancer has spread.

I had to quit my job after my cancer diagnosis and my medical expenses have taken a toll on our finances. My next treatment, a 12-cycle bi-monthly chemotherapy, will cost PHP 241,354 per cycle. That does not include hospitalization and lab tests. I will be starting my first session on March 27, 2019.

My daughter will turn five in August and my son will be two in April. I wish I will live long enough to teach my son some basketball tricks, check out the guy who will take my daughter to the prom and go on more dates with my wife.