Garrett was out of state in his 2nd year at college and in February of 2019, he had as toothache bothering him. I encouraged him to find a dentist to have it looked at. The dentist did a root canal, but the pain and swelling didn’t go away. Two rounds of antibiotics didn’t help either.
We got a second opinion and they said something was not right. He ended up seeing an endodontist that sent him to ER/hospital. He had an emergency sinus surgery that unveiled a mass, so a biopsy was taken. The cancer was diagnosed days later and confirmed by Harvard a week after that.
Two days after the surgery, we packed up his college room in 5 suitcases and flew home to Seattle to find an oncology team to help us battle this 1% of all cancers. On April 10th, we started chemotherapy after aborting a scheduled surgery because the tumor had grown so much in 3 weeks. It was obstructing his breathing and moving his facial structure. His chemo map was for a 43-week protocol with 7-week radiation.
We will never be able to let our guard down. Every sneeze, cough, bump lump, bruise, blurry vision, and pain will be a reminder that he got cancer and it can come back anytime and anywhere.
Young adults with cancer are stuck in a place where they are legally adults and pushed out of pediatric and scholarship programs, yet they are too young, innocent, and inexperienced with themselves and the world to know how to navigate their own emotions, environment, and advocate for themselves
We are a close family with a strong religious network, but cancer is not a friend too many know how to sit with. We end up sticking together most of the time because so many people don’t know how to navigate cancer with us.
Hope session by Dawne Carlisle Photography | Facebook | Instagram