Rob recalls times he would talk with Dr. Akerley about things that worried him. Dr. Akerley reassured him by explaining that what was happening wasn’ t as bad as Rob thought it was, which helped to ease Rob’ s nerves.
“ Cancer does a real trick on your mind. It’ s such a roller coaster. You get bad news, you get good news, you get bad news, and it ' s kind of crazy,” Rob says.“ But if it wasn ' t for Dr. Akerley and his team, I would not be sitting here today. I can definitely tell you that.”
Rob and Lyddia believe research is what the world needs right now, and funding that research is vital.
Rob petting a therapy dog during chemotherapy treatment
“ I believe in the next 10 years, there ' s going to be so much advancement in medical treatment for all diseases because of Artificial Intelligence and the collaboration of all the doctors getting all the information together,” Rob says.“ Research is going to save [ more ] people ' s lives.”
Rob later faced additional diagnoses, including ureteral and kidney cancers, and credits his care teams for seeing him through.