We are a team made in honor of Neil Jarman. This is his story:
My name is Neil and I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease at the age of twelve in the year 1995. They found a large mass in my chest and most of the lymph nodes in my neck were affected. Treatments began very quickly after that and the doctors decided to use chemotherapy treatments first due to the size of the tumor in my chest. This would allow them to shrink the tumor so they could do radiation treatments later. After months of chemo the tumor started to shrink. Soon after I started my radiation treatments that lasted a few more months. Finally, they ended my year long battle with another round of chemo. Almost one year to the date the doctors pronounced me in remission. I was then able to live a normal life again. For years I stayed cancer free but I never expected the other health issues that would come later in my adult life.
I met my wife in April of 2009. Soon after we decided to get married and start a family together. As a child I remembered that infertility may be an issue caused by some of the treatments I received. It became true for me like so many. However, since learning of my infertility, I have considered it a huge blessing. We decided early on, after finding out I was unable to have children, that we would adopt. My infertility brought me the greatest gift of my life, my beautiful daughter. What a joy she has been in my life and I could not have asked for a better situation.
Life after cancer has not all been joy though. During the first couple of years of my marriage I experienced instances of Basal Cell cancer in my skin. I have had to undergo multiple procedures to remove the cancerous skin. The doctors are pretty confident that the exposure to radiation as a child was the cause. The majority of the Basal Cell has been found in my neck, shoulders, and chest which is the area of treatment during radiation.
In Jan 2017 I suffered from Congestive Heart Failure and a Heart Attack while on a backpacking trip in Point Reyes National Park just north of San Francisco. There is no history of heart disease in my family so looking heart disease symptoms were not even on my mind as I grew older. Once again the radiation treatments as a child were the cause of the major heart and lung problems I now have. Many of my major arteries were blocked and my heart valves were damaged.
After multiple surgeries, including open heart surgery to repair my mitral valve and a quadruple bypass, I am alive today. I am not sure what my future will hold for me but I am a survivor. The treatments as a child may have damaged me long term but they also gave me 32 years of life, my family, and some amazing experiences that I will cherish forever.
Today I am still cancer free and alive.
The children affected by cancer today are not experiencing the same treatments that I did due to the years of research that has helped advance the fight against cancer. However, the fight is not over. More research needs to be done so that we save the lives of thousands of children and to better the treatment so it will not affect those children in the future like it did me.
