How We Got Here

Hello Family and Friends. 

As this is the initial entry about Chad's story it will be a little longer than future posts will be.

The fact that you are here means that you know that Chad has been diagnosed with cancer. You may not know what lead to the diagnosis so here is the short version.

Sometime around mid-December Chad began having what seemed to be normal digestion/tummy issues like heartburn, indigestion, bloating and feeling full without having eaten very much. He treated the symptoms as you might guess, with Tums, Pepto-Bismol, Zantac, etc. but the symptoms grew increasingly worse. By mid-February he was not able to keep any food and not much liquid down. He had lost a fair amount of weight and things were not looking like they were going to improve and he ended up in the emergency room. He was referred to gastroenterology and a scope showed that the opening from his stomach to his intestine had almost completely closed but they didn't know why. The initial biopsies came back inconclusive so a different type of scope and second set of biopsies was done. We found out on March 19th that the biopsy of his stomach and lymph nodes had come back cancerous. The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of almost daily appointments and procedures. The diagnostic phase of his journey has been exhausting but Chad has done well through every scan, gram, scope and draw and he has kept that amazing Chad Price positive attitude throughout. 

Today, April 9, all of the results are in and it has been confirmed that Chad has stage IV cancer located in his stomach lining, the surrounding lymph nodes, omentum and his liver. This news was unexpected and we still need time to process the gravity of it. Before today's news we had been given an idea of what treatment might look like and shared that information with some of you. Unfortunately due to his cancer being stage IV, that initial idea of a treatment plan needed to change. Chad's treatment will be evaluated on a step by step basis and it will be next to impossible to make predictions, we will just have to hope and pray for the best possible outcomes. On Monday Chad will start chemotherapy for at least 3-4 months. How well he handles the medication and the effectiveness of the medication will determine the next step of his treatment.  

You have all been amazing!! The outpouring of support and concern has warmed our hearts and given us much needed strength during this difficult time. We still have a lot to figure out and will update you all accordingly. Everyone wants to help and I promise that once we have a little more time we will have some ways for you to assist us. In the meantime, we will ask again that Chad's story is not shared on social media. Feel free to post your thoughts here and if you have questions I encourage you to ask them here since there's a really good chance that someone else here may have the same questions. If you have helpful links to articles or webpages or book and podcast suggestions or recipes or anything that you think we will benefit from please also post here. The streamlining of communication and information is going to be necessary for me to keep up. We have tried to answer every call, text, email and private message and if we have missed you we apologize. As you all can imagine, the amount of people that love and are concerned about Chad Price is a rather large one and it's easy to miss messages with so many coming in. It may take a few extra days but we will get back with everyone. Promise!

Please continue to hold Chad up in prayer and send him your love and light. We love you all.