A Bump in the Road
Spark of Life
We noticed that Eric was losing weight and his energy declining rapidly. Eric was afraid of what might be and procrastinated on seeing a health professional. As we traveled southwest for the winter, things were just getting worse for him. In December of 2018, with encouragement of Kristy, family, and friends, Kristy convinced Eric to go to Urgent Care. Our friend’s daughter who is a nurse practitioner suggested that Eric might have contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever during our travels. While at the Urgent Care, they took a blood draw so they could run some tests. Kristy asked them to do a CBC (complete blood count), as well as the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever test. The very next day we got the call that Eric’s blood levels were around 4.0 , where the levels of an average male should be 12 to 14. They said they were surprised that he was able to walk and that we should get to the emergency center ASAP.
After going through hours at the emergency center, they admitted Eric to the hospital for more tests. After being in the hospital for almost a week and being sent home, it took the hospital about two weeks total to finally call us on the phone and let us know that Eric was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma Stage 4.
Since it was around the holidays, it was taking a long time to get in to see a doctor to see what could be done. You might think this is bad news, but for us, it was a blessing in disguise. While we were waiting, Kristy started juicing and started searching the internet for recipes and juice bars and learning more about the disease and what we could do. That is when she came across An Oasis Of Healing in Mesa, AZ. We set up an appointment to meet with Dr. Goodyear (Now with Brio Medical) and the staff, and to take a tour of the facility. It didn’t take long to realize that this was the place for us. Eric told Dr. Goodyear that after he went to see a couple concerts in Las Vegas while celebrating his birthday, he would then be ready to start the treatment. Dr. Goodyear called Eric over that weekend and said “if you don’t come in right away, you will never make it back from Vegas.” Yes, Eric was in big-time denial and that call saved his life!
We Had a Major “Bump In The Road”
Since the healing process was going to take anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks, we had to make plans. One of them was what to do with Ms. Coach? Fortunately for us we have great family and friends. Eric’s cousin and nephew flew down to Tucson from Wisconsin to drive Ms. Coach up to Junction City, OR to Premier RV Sales & Service. She remained there until we got through the healing process. We packed what we needed and stayed in a mini apartment hotel near the clinic.
During the first week that the clinic was prepping Eric for his cancer treatment, major organs started to shut down, including his kidneys. Dr. Goodyear admitted Eric to the hospital to have water removed from his system to take pressure off the body and organs. Unfortunately, the hospital had other ideas and they kept Eric for over 5 weeks. During that time, Eric was in ICU twice. He had respiratory failure twice, and his kidneys had also failed which put him on a program of kidney dialysis. The hospital wanted to do chemo for the cancer, but by doing this, they said Eric’s kidneys would never come back. We almost went through with it, but another blessing came to us. The Oncologist who was treating Eric in the hospital would not accept Eric’s type of insurance and so they opted out on treating him. While in the hospital, Eric never gave up. One of his biggest goals was to keep his promise to his son Reed, that he would get better and make it to his wedding which was just 4 months away. Finally, after every test you could imagine and over $500,000 in medical bills, Eric was released to a Skilled Nursing Rehabilitation facility where he would rebuild some of his lost strength.
Eric & His Son Reed
In The Hospital
Fluid From Eric
It took him 3 weeks to have enough strength to stand up and walk with a walker so he could go back to An Oasis Of Healing for proper cancer treatment. Dr. Goodyear told Eric that if he followed the clinics protocol, he felt he would not only kill the cancer, but he would get Eric off of kidney dialysis as well. Eric and Kristy’s spirits soared, and they knew this was the clinic to get him better. The protocol was for Eric to be at the clinic 5 days a week for about 8 to 10 weeks and learning and following their diet which they taught through their onsite kitchen. When Eric left the rehab facility and started back at An Oasis Of Healing, not only were his kidney’s still failed but he was still breathing from an oxygen tank 24/7. He was on a kidney dialysis routine of 3 days a week, 4 hour each day and it came with many side effects including terrible headaches, nausea, skin challenges and more.
Goal Board In Hospital “Wedding”
Finally Eating Solid Food
Learning How To Walk
Rock Quilt From Friends
Randy & Katie
Released From Rehabilitation
Fast-forward to May of 2019, just 9 weeks after starting his cancer treatments at the clinic. Eric was given the “OK” from his doctors that he could fly back to Wisconsin to be at his son’s wedding. Arrangements were made for Eric to have kidney dialysis while in Wisconsin for the wedding. Two weeks prior to flying out, Eric’s doctor told him that he could reduce the kidney dialysis down to only twice a week. Miraculously, when the time came to fly out his doctor said Eric didn’t need dialysis anymore. When he got back from the wedding his dialysis port was permanently removed!!! To learn more about what saved Eric’s kidneys, Go Here.
In late June, Dr. Goodyear (gotta love the name 😊) ordered up another PET scan. Eric’s numbers came back clear. In July of 2019, Dr. Goodyear released Eric from the clinic! But, for “extra measure” they agreed he would continue with additional treatments of once-every-three-weeks, one-week maintenance treatment for the next 3 months. Eric returned to the clinic for a checkup in January and February 2020. Even though all his markers looked good he decided to repeat the “extra measure” process one last time and followed that with one last PET scan. Again, the PET scan came back completely clear.
Eric Gets Released
Made It To The Wedding
Port Being Removed
Pet Scan Is Clear
Today we can say that Eric is 100% clear, and his kidneys are 100% back to normal. He continues to go back for yearly checkups.
God has blessed us with a second chance on life and to be able to live our dream to travel through this amazing country again. To share it with you, enjoy our grandchildren, and so much more.
Our Granddaughter Nayve “Bean” & Our Grandson Nixon
If you or anyone you know is facing similar challenges, please reach out to us or share our information with them. We help anyone we can.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for all your prayers, love, and help through this difficult time. A special thank you to Eric’s cousin Joe and nephew Chad who flew down to Tucson from Wisconsin to drive Ms. Coach up to Junction City, Oregon. A BIG thank you to our very good friends Russ & Laurie who were always there for us. Laurie went with us to the first “An Oasis Of Healing” consultation. We appreciate all our friends and family including our good friends Nick & Babs who were there with Kristy while Eric went into the first hospital. Thanks to our friends Linette & Judy for coming by the hospital as well as Katie, Bret, & Alex. A special shoutout to our friends Laurinda and to Thomas who both came by many times to the hospital and provided support that turned out to be especially important to Eric’s healing. And we couldn’t have done it without our loving family who made the long flight out from Wisconsin, including his sister Darcy and partner Dennis, brother Guy, nephew Ross, daughter-in-law Summer, his son Reed, Reed’s mother Tammi, and Reed’s good friend Bret. And Eric’s sister BJ for the phone time, encouragement, faith and prayers. Eric had so much love and support from family and friends, which we are sure was a very big part of his optimism and healing. We want to give a special thanks to the staff at An Oasis Of Healing, Dr. Goodyear (now with Brio Medical) for helping us get back to living our “American Dream” and to Premier RV Sales & Service for taking care of Ms. Coach, and to Geoff & Johana Matthews from USA Benefits Group as we went through our healing process. Johana introduced us to a cost-effective health insurance for full-time RV'ers under the age of 65.
An Oasis Of Healing Staff
To read more about the events of our
“Eric’s Journey From Hell, The Whole Story”
simply Click Here for a PDF.
Premier RV Service Staff
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Products We Love For Better Health
We were given a new look on life, and we want to give back however we can. Click here for a few products that we use and recommend as part of our healthy living journey.
Looking For More?
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