Anthony’s Story
March 15, 2003
In the spring of 2003, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. By the time the cancer was diagnosed correctly, it had spread to the lymph nodes around my bladder. I had surgery to remove the 8cm tumor and five months of radiation therapy targeting my groin and abdomen (5 days/ week for 45 minutes). I had to stop working. My recovery took about a year until I felt strong again.
September 13, 2006
While riding my bike on a bike trail alongside the Los Angeles River, I fell forty feet down a cement decline to the bottom. I fractured my skull from behind my right ear to over and down through my right eye socket. I suffered subdural and epidural hematomas, shattered all the bones in my left wrist and had countless cuts and abrasions. I was in bed in the hospital for six weeks and had two surgeries (four hours and eight hours) on my left wrist. I underwent physical therapy to re-learn how to walk and to rebuild the atrophied muscles throughout my body. Occupational therapy helped me regain coordinated function of my eyes and use of my left hand. Cognitive function therapy helped me to regain memory and speech abilities. I had as much as 30 hrs a week of various therapies for months. In July of 2007, I flew to Mississippi to have another surgery on my left wrist, followed by more therapy. All my functions came back within 60-80% of their original form except my sense of smell which has been lost for good.
January 5, 2008
After over a year of complaining of breathing difficulties and pain in my chest, I was diagnosed with stage four germ-cell Seminoma cancer throughout my chest. The biggest tumor (3cm) was on my aorta. I had massive surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible from my chest cavity. This was followed by four months of intensive chemotherapy (5 days in a row every other week). I had surgery to put an access port in my chest to reduce the number of IV’s I was having each week (sometimes as many as 27 in a week) and then I had another surgery to remove the port. I ended up in the emergency room at least four days a month due to complications (usually low blood pressure).
August 21, 2009
While exiting the freeway in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles August of 2009, I crashed my motorcycle. I had compound fractures of the left femur and three fingers. I dislocated and shattered my left elbow. I broke my right radius. I tore out all of the ligaments on my right knee. I fractured six ribs. I suffered another head injury. I ended up in the hospital for five weeks, 2 weeks of which were spent in the ICU. I had three major surgeries in a month on my legs and arms. I have at least two more skin graft and ligament surgeries coming in the next three months. Due to the impact of the accident I have been and still am experiencing considerable pain, double vision and a cognitive “fog.” I have started physical therapy and occupational therapy for my arms and hands and will begin physical and occupational therapy for my legs and eyes in December.
October 27, 2009
Each time I have recovered from an incident or accident over the last six years, I have experienced a new one. Each time, I have had to stop working in order to recover and attempt to get back to work as soon as I can. I hired someone who specializes in fighting the inevitably denied claims, but I have still been out 35 – 50K each year since 2003 to cover the medical expenses not covered by insurance. This does not include the losses due to missed work, travel expenses, etc.
Due to my significant absence, my company has nearly gone out of business (I design and source all of our products). We had to lay off 25 of out 30 employees (including myself). The company is hanging on by a thread. I am on social security disability and massively in debt. I moved into my ex-wife’s guest house and sold everything I owned of value to meet my expenses and to continue to take care of my two adolescent children, ages 15 and 17.
The specifics concerning injuries, doctors, procedures and treatments are lengthy, but it is not my intention to complain. I am writing this is to briefly share my experiences. I have been given several dire prognoses including three likely deaths. Each time, I managed to recover faster and more fully than any of the doctors thought was possible. I believe I did this because I did not buy into the dire prognoses I received from the medical professionals.
My intention is to assist others in working past their own dire prognoses. Before I was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in 2008 I had begun working towards getting a degree in counseling so I could counsel others that have experienced life threatening accidents and diseases (I am using the past tense because my efforts are on hold while I recover from the latest event). My most recent accident occurred on the morning I was supposed to go to my practicum to finish a psychology program at the University of Santa Monica. I am eager to get back on my feet and continue my education so I may be of service to others. Six years of medical bills and the loss of income and assets have dug a deep financial hole. Throughout all of this, I have been sustained by friends and family, my children, and an inner strength that meets this world that at times seems to want to break me, over and over. I am truly grateful to be alive, still, and believe the greatest fulfillment of my gratitude will come in the opportunity to give back.
Love and Light,
-Anthony
