HENDERSON HEIGHTS COMMUNITY NEWS
Vol 5. Issue 1
Keeping everyone informed and up to date in our neighbourhood
March 2018
MY BRUSH WITH DEATH! HH resident Jon William has just turned 49. He never thought he’d see his 49th birthday because of his brush with death through cancer. HHHCNews: Tell us Jon, when did you first realise you had cancer? JON: It started when I had this pain in my lower stomach area. I thought it might have been an after effect of drinking alcohol. Well, it didn’t go away. In fact it got progressively worse. It was a Tuesday morning, 5:30am. I remember it well. Excruciating pain woke me. It was a struggle just to get to my car. Luckily I made it down to A and E.
they couldn’t get to it. Plan B was to cut me open and go into from the front, which they did. They got the sample they needed and when the results came back they found that the cancer had originated in my testicles. This told them that the cancer was spreading rapidly. HHHCNews: Oh my goodness! You poor man! Where was your family in all this? JON: No family. I was going through this on my own. I had a few friends who visited, but this was a battle that I fought with little support. The chemotherapy started almost immediately. I was prescribed 9 weeks worth.
HHHCNews: Then what?
HHHCNews: Tell us about that?
JON: The doctors rushed around, took a blood sample and gave me morphine. The blood sample was sent to urgent bloods. Four hours later the doctor came into my room looking all serious and said “I am sorry to say Jon. You’ve got cancer. Lymphona cancer. It’s survivable.” My whole life flashed before me and I thought “#$%@! How long have I got!” I went into shock. I was rushed to North Shore hospital where they did more tests and a scan. They found that there was a tumour around my spine. They tried to take a biopsy using a huge needle which they trust into my spine but for some reason
JON: It was #$%@. The very first dose was just soooo bad. I couldn’t stop vomiting. When I realised this was the first of many doses, I thought I would die before I got to the end! Fortunately, they gave me some pills to stop the nausia. HHHCNews: Did ACC support you? Or your employer? Nine weeks is a long time to be off work and to not have money coming in? JON: I was self employed. ACC said I was not covered. I didn’t have insurance. Friends would pop over from time to time and cook me something to eat. Cut a long story short, I recovered and the chemo
worked. I had one testicle removed. Now I know what it’s like to be at deaths door and in a hard place. HHHCNews: Jon, did going through all this change you? Teach you some things? JON: Absolutely! 1. It made me appreciate being alive more. I try to make the most of every day now and I cut out the trivial stuff like TV. 2. I became very health conscious, realising that my body was a beautifully designed machine and I needed to take good care of it. 3. I came to realise how fragile life is. I came full face with the fact they every new day is a bonus. I could be taken any day. 4. I cut out people and situations in my life which were not helping me move forwards.
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Keeping everyone in our Henderson Heights community up to date with news.
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