Cancer Through The Eyes Of A Daughter

It was July of 2008, it was going to be my senior year in high school. A summer I will never forget, one that would change my life forever.
Ever since I was little my family has been everything to me. My parents were both heavily involved in our lives, especially when it came to sports. They were our coaches, cheerleaders and van pool drivers. They made it all happen for us. 
That summer my mom and brother took off for a tournament in New York while my Dad and I stayed back.  I was scheduled for shoulder surgery and my own fast pitch team, which my Dad coached, was in a tournament.
One morning while I was at my aunt’s house we got a surprise call from my Dad. He was in the emergency room with extreme abdominal pain. I panicked, my Dad was never one to get sick, yet he was in one that was in hospital. He tried to reassure us that it was probably nothing, or at most a stomach ulcer from my fast pitch team.  We got ready and rushed down to the hospital to see him. After some tests they came to the conclusion, he needed emergency gall bladder surgery. 
A couple days passed after his surgery and he still wasn’t feeling any better. He decided to go back to the hospital. When he went back the doctor said it was probably just pancreatitis. His recommendation was to just rest and not eat. By this time my mom and brother were home, my Dad was in the hospital for close to a week. He was surviving off of Ensure and getting weaker each day. The doctor tried to play it off as him simply old and overweight. My Dad was only 44.
We started to push for more tests something just wasn’t right. We all had this gut feeling that it was cancer, but no one wanted to admit it. The doctors sent us home reassuring us it was not cancer, They said-everything would be okay. None of us actually wanted to believe it until the results came in.
While we waited we all did our fair share of researching online. With all the different symptoms, according to our research it wasn’t looking good. We started to prepare ourselves for the worst to come.
It was already October and we still had no answers. My parents finally got the call to come in to have tests read. One doctor said yes, you have pancreatic cancer. The second doctor said he wasn’t sure. They sent the tests to Texas to be read. That night when my parents came home I knew the news wasn’t good. You could see the tears still on their faces. My parents sat us down to tell us the news we already knew…your Dad has cancer. The test results had finally come back, positive, stage four pancreatic cancer. The first thought was why my Dad? Why our family? Why does it always happen to the nice people? There are others sitting in jail, why not them? My brother and I were so confused and angry. I didn’t know much about cancer, but I knew enough to know the outcome often isn’t good.
The doctors and my parents immediately started a treatment plan at UW Medical Center. We were determined to fight.  My Dad was not going to give up. There was still too much he needed to be here for.
His treatments started to take a toll on his body. He lost his appetite, couldn’t sleep, and lost a lot of weight. His doctor had no concern about the weight loss. I am no doctor, but I do know that nutrition is vital. My Dad was 6’6” and about 220 pounds before treatment started. By January nothing was improving and my dad had lost 60. We decided it was time to switch doctors. By the time we switched my Dad could hardly walk, he was too weak. The doctors and nurses there were so supportive in trying to help him battle this awful cancer, but I feel that we waited too long.
My Dad went in for a routine stint replacement, his bio duck was collapsing. They had to replace the old stint with a new one.  A couple days after having his surgery he was at home in bed when he told us, “I am having a hard time breathing.” We immediately called the medics and he was rushed to the hospital. It was a couple days later in June of 2009 that my Dad passed away of complications to his pancreatic cancer.
My Dad wore many hats in his life, he was a coach, a fire fighter, a husband and a father and now he will forever be my guardian angel.

Meghan Dietrich

Relay For Life of Sumner is an annual event and fundraiser for the American Cancer Society,  the official sponsor of birthdays.  The 2013 event will be held at Sunset Chev Stadium on July 26-27.  Please join us as we celebrate those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost and empower individuals to fight back against the disease.  For more information about how to participate visit www.relayforlifeofsumner.org.