Kevin Porter

Stage:Stage III

My story starts 3 years ago, April of 2016. I was 45, healthy, full of life, and active. I returned a few weeks earlier from honoring a friend who had died from hernia surgery. I was out kicking the soccer ball with my son one Sunday afternoon. Later that evening a lump appeared in my thigh. My first thought was if this is a hernia I’m not having surgery. 2nd thought was maybe I pulled something. I’m not going to the doctor. Well over the next few weeks I would wake up FREEZING COLD at 1:00 am and have to throw up. Then one day I couldn’t keep anything down, I was in the bathroom constantly. I called my wife and told her she needed to come home as I needed to go to Urgent Care. He told me that my sickness was probably food poisoning. The lump in my thigh was a fatty tumor, nothing to worry about, it’s non cancerous. If it continues to grow and get uncomfortable go see your primary doctor and they can remove it. Nothing to worry about. At the time it was about the size of a grape.

So I continued to feel sick on occasion and the one consistent thing was it happened at 1:00 am and I woke up FREEZING cold. Once I threw up I was okay. So I started to watch what I ate and stayed away from things that would cause me to be sick. It became less frequent. I also didn’t over eat or if I wasn’t hungry I chose not to eat. Well now it’s November and this is where the story gets interesting.  My wife and I talked and I told her I was going in to see what the cost would be for surgery as I have never had a surgery. I thought it might take a few months to schedule an appointment, but was able to get in that day.

During the exam the doctor told me he didn’t know what it was, but knew it was not a fatty tumor. It could be an array of things, lymphoma, an infected lymph node, a clogged lymph node, cat’s scratch fever, etc. He ordered an x-ray, blood work and would then make an appointment for me to meet the surgeon. Oh!! Okay how long do you think it will be to do this? He said you’re going around the corner to have an x-ray and then walk around another corner and do the blood work. OH! Wait. What? So we’re moving fast on this? I was just coming in to see what the process was, pricing etc? He says we’re moving fast because I don’t know what it is. I said OK let’s go. So I texted my wife to let her know what was going on, not expecting her to respond very quickly. She blew my phone up. Panic had taken over!! I went to see the surgeon the following week and we did a biopsy on November 22nd the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. When we found out it was melanoma I was relieved. My first comment was great let’s remove it. My wife freaked out and said great? You still have cancer. My response was it’s melanoma. How many people have you heard that have died from melanoma. Heck they don’t have any charity events, golf tournaments or even walks. It isn’t that bad. Boy was I wrong and I became very educated. We scheduled an appointment with an Oncologist. We met him and weren’t really comfortable with everything he was telling me.

I have a friend who has a family friend who is an Oncologist. I spoke with him on the phone and he said… If you don’t go see Dr. Amin then I can’t help you. My wife came home and I told her I was going to get a 2nd opinion. Once again fear hit her. We had a conversation and scheduled the appointment. During the meeting I had a question about which surgery he thought I would have. He called the surgeon, had a conversation and gave me the answer. At the end Dr. Amin asked if I wanted him to send all the info to the first oncologist and surgeon. My response was no!! I want you to call your surgeon and you’re going to take care of me. He said but you came here for a 2nd opinion. I said and I’m thankful and blessed. God has led me to you and  he’s going to use you to heal me. I’m thankful he put people in my life to guide me to you.

Surgery was scheduled for Jan 2017. In March I started Immunotherapy with Ippi and Nivo for up to 4 treatments. I actually did all 4. Then we waited 6 weeks, then continued with Nivo. I became cancer free in October 2017 and finished treatment in April of 2018. Since then I have been doing Pet Scans every 3 months. My first year after treatment will be in April of this year and then we’ll space the scans out. My journey will continue for at least 5 years and then I don’t know what will happen.

Through the entire journey my faith has never wavered. I have never been angry or asked why me? I have remained positive and posted positive posts throughout my journey in hopes that I can be a blessing to someone, give someone hope and maybe brighten someone’s day. I have stated several times that at the end of this there’s going to be a blessing. It may be for me, but it probably will be for someone else and I don’t know who. It’s not my choice.

Last Name : Abbott