It’s two days before Christmas, and I’m sitting here reflecting on a year I wasn’t sure I’d see the end of.
On June 3rd, my 25th wedding anniversary, I got the biopsy results confirming what I feared most. Stage 4. The cancer had spread to my lungs and bloodstream. What should have been a day of celebration became the start of the hardest chapter of my life.
But I’m still here.
In September, the scans showed the treatment was working. In December, more good news. The cancer is responding. After everything, after 70 radiation treatments, 20 rounds of chemo, a radical neck dissection, losing my voice, losing my job, and nearly losing hope, something is finally going right.
And I owe so much of that to you.
Over 200 of you have stood with me this year. Some of you donated. Some of you prayed. Some of you sent messages that arrived on the exact day I needed them most. You may never know how much those moments mattered. When you’re fighting for your life, knowing someone out there is pulling for you changes everything.
You helped me turn the tide.
I wish I could send each of you a Christmas card. A handwritten thank you. Something to show you what your support has meant to my family. But GoFundMe doesn’t share donor addresses with me, so I have no way to reach you directly.
If you’d like to stay connected, please visit WaynesCancerJourney.com and fill out the form on the homepage. That way, I can keep you updated on my progress and properly say thank you. You deserve that.
The fight isn’t over yet. I still need High Dose IV Vitamin C infusions, nerve damage treatments, and medications my insurance refuses to cover. Losing my paycheck has been devastating. I hope to return to work sometime in 2026, but until then, every donation keeps me in this fight.
This Christmas, I get to be with my family. I get to watch my sons open presents. I get to hold my wife, the veteran who has stood by me through every scan, every treatment, every sleepless night. That is a gift I do not take for granted.
You gave me that.
God blessed me with another year. And you, my supporters, gave me the hope and resources to fight for it. I’m hoping to pay it forward. I’m already working to help other cancer patients with the knowledge and faith that got me this far.
Thank you for believing in me when the odds said not to.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Wayne