Joe Fornear's Cancer Journey
Sometimes you’re plunged unexpectedly into unfamiliar territory, and you find yourself asking how you’re going to make it through. That’s my story of surviving Stage IV metastatic melanoma that had spread all over my body!
In September of 2002 at age 44, I felt a small lump under my arm. My family doctor believed it was a cyst and due to some sort of infection. He confidently announced during two separate appointments, “Whatever it is, it’s too soft to be cancer.” But the lump continued to grow, and eventually he sent me to a surgeon for a biopsy on December 23, 2002. Two days later, Christmas Day 2002, the surgeon called with the lab results from the biopsy. I had Stage III metastatic melanoma. Since I had no skin lesion, this was a surprise to the doctors and contributed to the delay of the diagnosis. The cancer had bypassed my skin’s surface and traveled directly into my lymph nodes.
At that time, my wife Terri and I were the parents of two teenagers and shaken that I had cancer. The diagnosis was made doubly hard because my dad was also battling Stage IV melanoma and his condition was rapidly deteriorating. My surgeon scheduled another surgery for January 12, 2003 to remove the entire mass from under my arm, but by then it had grown to 8″ x 6″ x 4″.
For a few days, we had hoped that the cancer was gone, but a later scan then showed a quarter-sized lesion was in my stomach. I then had another surgery to remove a third of my stomach. On the morning I was to be released from the hospital, my wife walked into my room and reported my dad had just passed away from his battle with melanoma. In the condition I was in at that time, I wasn’t able to make the trip from Dallas to Pittsburgh to attend my father’s funeral. Grief and helplessness enveloped me. Looking for comfort, I turned to the story of Job in the Bible. In the midst of all of his losses, Job cursed the day of his own birth– Strangely, I found consolation in cursing the distance from Dallas to Pittsburgh.
Testing of Faith
I had been a pastor for 13 years, yet all of my sermons about the testing of our faith seemed to be taunting me now. A grief observed is one thing, but a grief experienced is quite another and my own trial had just begun.
After recovering from the stomach surgery, my doctor suggested a harsh treatment called high dose Interleukin-2. I was amazed when his first choice was to send me away to my hometown for treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He said that their Interleukin-2 and melanoma research, under Dr. John Kirkwood and Dr. Sanjiv Agarwala, was well established and a world class program. I certainly noted the irony of being sent to Pittsburgh, just days after missing my dad’s funeral, but I of course jumped at the opportunity to be with my Pittsburgh family. Still, God’s timing of these events was a huge struggle for me to handle, but He knows what He is doing.
"As a pastor for 13 years, all my sermons about the testing of our faith seemed to taunt me. A grief observed is one thing - a grief experienced quite another, and my own trial had just begun."
The theory behind high dose Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is to supercharge the immune system and knock out the cancer cells which have been evading detection. The side effects of IL-2 though are similar to a very bad case of the flu. Treatments require hospitalization because of the known dangerous side effects on the renal system – the kidneys. I am not going to pretend – the treatments were really tough on me. I leaned on the support of my family there in Pittsburgh and my 7 brothers and sisters. The treatments were around the clock, but there was almost always someone by my side, even throughout the nights. My church back in Dallas was incredibly supportive and caring throughout the entire trial through fervent prayer for a total recovery. I was also able to reconnect with many old friends from high school and college. I felt humbled and grateful for this expression of the love of God. Despite the tough treatment, the Interleukin did not knock out my cancer, in fact, the cancer continued to spread like a windblown fire. The multitude of prayers had not worked either. Not yet at least.
Days to Live
Once melanoma metastasizes or moves past the skin, it can be one of the fastest and deadliest cancers. It lodged itself into my pancreas in two spots, and one of those masses grew rapidly. Other sites it invaded on my body were above and below my collarbone, my kidney, my lung, my ribs, and several lymph nodes in my abdomen. There was also a chain of tumors along my “celiac trunk” (an artery that carries blood to the stomach area) and also a patch in the lymph nodes of my pelvis. It spread from the front of my pelvis, back through the pelvis and around my ischium bone (sitting bone), eventually fracturing it. I remember the day when I tried to climb a step and felt something crack.
Before I left Pittsburgh to go back home to Dallas, I was hospitalized again for four more days with pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that prevents the digestion of solid food. The tumors were then taking over my pancreas from both sides. The pain would increase whenever I tried to eat, so I stopped eating altogether and began to lose weight rapidly, ultimately losing 63 pounds. I don’t want to be too melodramatic here, I had a few extra pounds to spare, but I was startled by my own image in the mirror.
After I returned to Dallas, I was hospitalized again for severe abdominal pain, more pancreatitis. My doctor then gave me “days to live”. He asked the nurses to “keep me comfortable,” and they started talking about the benefits of hospice. It was then that I began preparing my funeral from my hospital bed.
More Months to Live
Despite my oncologist’s concern that chemotherapy might prove fatal in my condition, I decided anyways to try a cocktail of chemo developed by MD Anderson Hospital in Houston. Melanoma is known to be very resistant to conventional chemo, but after my first treatment my symptoms improved immediately. I had two masses the size of large marbles just under my skin above and below my collarbone and both began to shrink!
My second round of chemo was brutal as far as side effects, I vomited or had diarrhea virtually every 15 minutes for two days after the treatment. But the chemo was really kicking in, so much so that the masses by my collar bone disappeared altogether. Then a PET scan showed significant shrinkage of internal tumors! Because of the progress, my oncologist gave me 9 more months to live in July of 2003.
NED - No Evidence of Disease
The large mass on my pancreas continued to be stubborn and was not responding at all to the chemo treatments that the other masses had. I then underwent shaped-beam or guided beam radiation from a “Novalis” machine which Lance Armstrong had arranged to be donated to the nearby Richardson Regional Hospital. At the time, there were only 6 Novalis machines in the country. As with chemo, Melanoma is usually resistant also to lower, safer dosages of radiation, However, the Novalis uses high tech mapping and guided precision to target tumors, shaping the radiation beams to the contours of internal masses. Thus, the radiation levels can be increased high enough to knock out melanoma, while minimizing some of the impact to the surrounding tissue.
The radiation was successful! It killed the tumor with five daily treatments that lasted only five minutes each. Immediately, my appetite returned and I began gaining weight and strength. After a third round of chemo in August of 2003, I had another PET scan which was completely normal, with no cancer, or what the doctors call, “no evidence of disease” (NED)!
Joe has remained cancer free since August 13, 2003!
Making Sense of it all
I have to be honest, there were moments that I prayed for death, it would have been easier to leave and go be with the Lord! I really started fighting in prayer when I decided I’d rather stay here with my wife and finish raising our kids, and continue fishing for souls for eternity (Philippians 1:21-16). The “light and momentary” struggles of this world pale in comparison to the glory of enjoying the Lord forever and bringing others to Christ (2 Corinthians 4:17). Heaven could wait.
My story is not a profile of my courage and it is certainly not a “tough guy beats cancer” story. It’s about the Lord’s desire and ability to hold onto me even when I was losing my grip. This is why I call my story, “my Stronghold.” It’s about Him, not me. If it had been up to me to produce stability in the depths of the pain, fog, and stress, I never would have made it. Psalm 59: 16-17 sums it up well for me:
But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving kindness.
For those who fought with me and for me, I can’t thank you enough. Let me know when it is my turn to fight for you. This story is not complete without proclaiming what an incredible caretaker and angel my wife, Terri, was to me throughout the whole experience. Caretakers have a different, but definitely traumatic path of their own. Prayers for those who are caretaking now!
My oncologist is still amazed and calls this an absolute miracle. Watch my oncologist talk about God’s healing and my unlikely recovery in his appearance in CBN’s coverage of my story. He told me had never seen a “complete” response with such an advanced case of Stage IV metastatic melanoma. Also watch my surgeon call my recovery “miraculous” at our Stronghold Ministry Banquet in 2012. God had clearly answered our prayers and all glory goes to Him!
Stronghold Ministry
In November of 2008, after 18 years of pastoring a church, Terri and I launched a non-profit organization, Stronghold Ministry, to come alongside of cancer patients and those in crisis to help encourage and comfort them. If you’re fighting cancer, please write and tell us your story, we want to be in your corner! To learn more about what Stronghold Ministry provides, visit our ‘About’ page.
Find out how you can know for sure if you will go to heaven: Read our “The Two Ways to Get to Heaven.“
For more details and the rest of Joe’s story or to request an e-book visit our ‘My Stronghold, A Pastor’s Battle with Cancer and Doubts’ page. If you’re fighting cancer, Joe’s book is included in our free gift basket from Stronghold Ministry, request one here!
