Tom is dying of cancer.
A few of his trusted friends
know, but many will probably
be learning this for the first time.
He was originally given just
four months to live, but after re-
sponding well to chemotherapy
they gave him another year.
Tom’s doctor now puts him in
the 2-5 year category, “but prob-
ably closer to 2-3.”
And then came the news.
“The doctor said, ‘You have
cancer and it’s spread every-
where,’” recalled Richards. “I
was in complete and utter shock.
I felt numb. Here I was: I didn’t
feel bad, I didn’t look bad, and I
hadn’t had any health issues. At
first I didn’t believe it, saying it’s
got to be something else. But
they showed me the scans and
it was like ‘woh!’ I literally have a
massive spread from my lungs,
my liver, the area right outside
the intestinal and abdominal
area, and lymph nodes. You look
at the scans and the doctors are
staring at me like, ‘Why don’t
you have any blood coming out
of any orifices? Why aren’t you
on oxygen?”
It all started when Tom and his
wife, Suzanne, moved to Ten-
nessee. He was taking a physi-
cal as a new patient with a doc-
tor there, feeling and looking
completely healthy. A few days
later the doctor asked him to do
an ultrasound just to follow up
on something that he said was
probably nothing. But three
days later he had a localized
Suzanne was stunned, but im-
CAT Scan and then was asked to mediately started looking for
do a full CAT Scan of his upper
an answer. She led the way into
and lower regions.
3rd, 4th, and 5th opinions. Tom
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 44
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