Our Goal:
To raise $1,000,000 for
research and public education
about prostate cancer.
research and public education
about prostate cancer.
| Our Goal: To raise $1,000,000 for research and public education about prostate cancer. | |
| ||
|
You are Visitor # John Loesing, Project Director Dr. Terry Weyman, Founder | PROSTATE CANCER CLIMB My Battle With Prostate Cancer
The doctor did the usual blood draw and after the “finger wave” casually mentioned he felt a slight prostate scar so we should do a biopsy just to be sure. I know I’m strange sometimes, but I’ve never done anything that might cause a scar on my prostate. I knew I had a prostate, knew basically, what its function was and knew I had not done anything to damage it. Suspicious now, I purchased a book by Pat Walsh entitled The Prostate and read it cover to cover twice. A week later the results from the blood tests arrived and the friendly nurse quietly informed me the PSA reading was over 100! I nearly dropped the phone. Any thing over 4.0 needs to be investigated further. In the succeeding days, the results from the other tests came in and things only became worse. The prostate scar turned out to be two tumors one of which was an inch in diameter! Now I was having a bone scan done to see if it had metasticised to the bone. I knew that if they sent me to the x-ray room I was dead. After an hour the scan was finished. They sent me to x-ray………….Results: Extremely advanced and aggressive Prostate Cancer with heavy bone involvement. Tumors in the spine, ribs, pelvis, and right femur, approximately ten in all, maybe twelve…… I’m dead. What the hell happened to my perfectly fine life? I never smoked, seldom drank, ate a low fat diet, seldom ate red meat, and exercised regularly. This can’t be happening. Two weeks later I’m sitting in the office of the head of oncology at a local cancer center. In his opinion, I have six months to three years of life left. I went home and slept the rest of the day. Maybe when I awaken this will have gone away. I woke up. Nothing changed. The urologist had put me on drugs to either block or halt the production of testosterone, the major driver of prostate cancer progression, and I had to deal with the myriad of side effects from them. Depression, fatigue, hot flashes, and just plain feeling terrible were some of the early symptoms. Later the muscles seemed to melt away and my memory seemed have a few gaps, but my body fat was increasing. Oh boy! We refrained from telling anyone about my disease except my employer and a few close friends at first. We just wanted to get through the holidays and college finals before we really spread the news. When we did tell the world, I was overwhelmed by the support I received from every one. Over 50 years on this planet and I hadn’t irritated as many people as I thought I had. The months went by and the blood tests improved slowly, too slowly. My new doctor, Dr. Stephan Strum, put me on every drug he knew that could fight this disease short of heavy chemotherapy. We finally discovered a supplement based on Chinese herbal medicine and things have continued to improve as the years have gone passed. Even the bone scans have shown improvement. I’m nowhere near a cure, and all of the drugs I’m on could stop working tomorrow. I feel like I’m walking through the beautiful meadow of life surrounded by a bunch of sleeping lions and expecting a very hungry one to awaken any minute. I first heard about Dr. Terry Weyman’s dream of climbing this mountain a few months ago, through a mutual friend. His learned motives are simple; to honor his father and raise funds for prostate cancer awareness, education, and research. After much thought and discussion I came to the conclusion this was a crazy idea that could happen, should happen, no, “Has To Happen”!!!… I signed up…My goal is simply to climb this mountain to show all the men dealing with this disease that they can overcome the debilitating effects of the therapies to their minds and bodies. If I can climb this mountain, every man who deals with one or more side effects from this disease can ignore those side effects and get on with his life. Together “WE” can beat this disease. The women are doing it and we can do it too. Sincerely, Proceeds of the Prostate Cancer Climb will go exclusively to funding education and research. No portion of the proceeds will be designated for operating or administrative expenses. Distribution of the Hap Weyman Memorial Prostate Cancer Project Fund will be determined by the Independent Educational Research Funding Committee (IERFC). |
 | Search Engine Optimization Donated by: Page Last Updated: |
The problem with having a bone scan is it gives you time to think and I had way too much time to think on that fateful November morning in 1995. The nightmare had started a few weeks before when I visited my friendly urologist for a slight urinary problem. I was a happy 51-year-old guy with a wife of 26 years, two wonderful daughters in college, a bunch of super friends, and in good health, or so I thought. For some month’s prior I began to notice my trips to the restroom had become more frequent. I mentioned it to my wife, who is an intensive care nurse, and her reaction was one of unashamed humor. Over the next few months I endured every “roto-rooter” joke ever invented and maybe a few originals. The decision to visit the doctor came after a driving trip to Oregon. I’m the kind of person who never wants to stop except to stave off malnutrition or walking for gas. My wife, on the other hand, seldom wants to pass up a roadside “rest” area. I noticed on this trip, however, things were different. I never put much of a fight about stopping this time. So off to the doctor I went.
