Reason to Cheer

Update on Connor Krantz’s battle with cancer— and the source of his unshakeable optimism.

Story Mark McWaters / Photos Fred Lopez

Readers may remember Connor Krantz’s story from the first issue of The Local in September. After Krantz experienced bouts of intense abdominal pain, his girlfriend, Madi, insisted he get checked out. After some tests, the 26 year-old learned he had testicular cancer. Since then, Krantz has been undergoing treatment and receiving incredible support from the Winger Garden community.We wanted to share an update on his progress. Because of his youth and good physical shape, the approach to treatment very aggressive. The surgeon removed a four-pound tumor roughly the size of a football.

Now, Krantz is about halfway through a brutal schedule of chemotherapy sessions. They have been five hours a day, five days a week, followed by two weeks off to recover. Four rounds were scheduled, after which he would undergo another surgery to remove the remnants of the other two tumors.

The day we spoke, the excruciating pains were gone, which lifted his spirits quite a bit. “I never realized how much pain I’d been living with.” But now, those pains have been replaced by sapped energy, feelings of malaise, and diffculty concentrating on anything but getting better.

“I have never been one to ask for help,” Krantz says. “It was hard for me. I didn’t even want people to know what I was going through and I only told my family and close friends at first. I didn’t want to be the guy with cancer and having my friends say, ‘Well, we better go check on Connor.’”

When he let people know what was happening through a Facebook post, he couldn’t believe the response.

People came out of the woodwork to share their own cancer stories. They cheered him on daily, pumped him up. One customer volunteered to come vacuum the carpet in his store. His employees came in early in the mornings to trim the hedges outside.

Krantz heard countless stories of how people went through ordeals like his and came out the other side healthier and stronger. Their accounts gave him courage and a new realization about the innate goodness of people and how important it is to ask for help.

“I’d like to urge anyone reading this to ask for help when they need it,” Krantz says. “It’s humbling to ask, but it doesn’t make you weak. It makes you strong. If my girlfriend hadn’t forced me to go to the ER that day, who knows where I’d be? If my Mom, the nutritionist, hadn’t xed my diet before we knew anything was wrong, my cancer might have been a lot worse. If I didn’t have the great employees I have, West Orange E-bikes may not even exist.”

Krantz has heard from so many people — friends, strangers, customers, and family members — who have been cheering him on. They have been “pushing me from behind. I have so much to be thankful for,” he says.

Today, thanks to all the support, the kindness of strangers, and his amazing doctors, Krantz can see the end of this diffcult journey now. Strangely, he never thought dying would be his end. His only real concern was how long it would take to be himself again. “I’ve always been one for immediate results,” Krantz says. “But I’ve learned better. I learned when you help others, you get it back many times over.”

Krantz explains, “I lost myself for over a year. Turned quiet, depressed, kept everything inside when I used to be the fun guy, always happy, always joking. The other day, my girlfriend looked at me and said, ‘You’re funny again!’ And I knew Connor was back.”

To help Krantz as he continues his cancer treatment, go to in.thelocalwg.com/connor

Krantz before his cancer treatment began