Changes

Sometimes I don't know where to begin. The last few months have been a whirlwind of testing, results good and bad, surgeries and creating a new plan while also trying to "live" and not just exist here. I have always tried to not allow cancer to define me. I have tried to "getbusyliving" and learned to live life over cancer and also share my story. If I can help someone else live life over cancer, teach someone to find joy in the days, to love our God and trust in him, to donate to research as it is keeping me alive, or to stop and enjoy the little things then I have done my job when sharing my story.

 I will start by explaining that since I was first diagnosed with cancer in 2008 my breast cancer grew from estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR), we have worked hard to reduce the amounts of ER/PR in my body by both surgery and treatments. As time goes on cancer will learn how to change receptors and grow in new ways. When my cancer returned and became metastatic/stage 4 in 2017 it came back in my left lung and down my chest wall, wrapped around my heart. During the first few years we were able to shrink all of those tumors some with small amounts of cancer remaining. At one point I was stable for 4 and 1/2 years on my first line treatment of Ibrance. When my cancer began to grow again while on Ibrance it grew in my left lung, my local oncologist discussed clinical trials with me and after a visit to Start Midwest in Grand Rapids I decided to give them a try. That was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The first three trials worked for me for about a year each time, the side effects were minimal, and I learned so much about the advancements in cancer research. The team at Start Midwest is one of the best around and I made friends while there that will always be close to my heart. The last growth I had came fast. In an 8-week time period between PET scans my cancer grew in both of my lungs, creating tumors and fluid filled with cancer cells, bone mets to my spine and femur, and mets to my liver and many lymph nodes. This was very frightening news to hear. We haven't experienced this much growth at one time or so fast in all our time living life over cancer. I had a biopsy done last week to see if the cancer is still ER/PR positive or if it has changed. These results would determine what treatment options I would have available to me. Turns out that my cancer is still ER/PR positive and also now have a new protein that cancer is growing from called HER2. This was good news in the cancer world as scientist and researchers have learned a lot about HER2 in the past few years and this protein also gives me the most treatment options! yay! More good news, the drain tube I had placed in December did its job and I was able to have it removed! 

Treatments are like a playbook in sports, in sports the talent spread among athletes on a team allows for the most options in the playbook. For me having ER, PR and HER2 allows for me to have the most treatments in my medical playbook. Having almost 4 years of success in clinical trials also saves alot of FDA drugs for me to try. My team and I decided that I would go back to an FDA approved drug for now called Enhertu. Enhertu is a newer drug, designed for ER/PR and HER2 positive patients. It does come with side effects however I had my first treatment yesterday and all is well so far. We will continue to move forward, trust in God's plan and continue to Get Busy Living!

Quick update on the kids! Bryce and his Brooke are in the process of purchasing their second home in the country where they are so excited to make memories and live in the woods. Peyton is working for Amazon and enjoying it while living in Grand Rapids. Brooke is in her 3rd year at GVSU and doing her field work at Corwell Health in Cardiac Rehab. I am so blessed to be here to watch them grow. Excited to see what the future holds for all of them.

Jeff and I are off to one of our favorite vacation places this week and so excited to relax in the sunshine, walk along the Caribbean Sea in t-shirts and flip flops and get some much-needed rest! Go do the things, enjoy the days, there is always something good in each one of them.

#getbusyliving 

Peace and Love, 

Chris Stark and Family

The Christmas Present I Didn’t Ask For

Greetings……

A little update from my world. I received a Christmas present this year that I really don’t want.  As you may recall early November I had cancer fluid removed from my lung. It returned pretty quickly so this week I had a fancy PleurX catheter placed so I can drain my lung at home.  Visiting nurses are making a few visits this week so that we know we are draining correctly then we’ll be on our own!  

The good news is, being able to remove the fluid from home allows for better days, I can breathe better and feel better.  The goal is to hopefully only have this extra piece of equipment attached for a period of time and then removed so that we can continue to #getbusyliving doing all the water things we enjoy!  We need my lung to open up and work correctly without retraining fluid and we need my new chemo to start working!  

Keep praying this works and I get back to feeling like myself again! 

My wish for you. Go do the things, climb the mountains, jump into the water, chase the sunsets, go live while you can! #getbusyliving 

Peace and Love,

Chris, Jeff and Family 

Hills and Valleys

We all walk through hills and valleys, or good times and bad times. In August I was blessed to go on an Alaskan Cruise with my husband and good friends, celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary. While hiking up hill to see the beauty of the water below us, I had to stop and take a break, I mentioned to my friend Amy that I felt more labored in my breathing than normal. We rested for a moment and went about our hike, got to the top and enjoyed the beauty of the scenery and Alaskan waters. (pictured below) It was breathe taking and I was truly out of breath. We continued on with our day enjoying our trip.  

We returned home from our amazing trip and I started to feel labored breathing as I walked up and down stairs, and slowly over time it continued to get worse, While in Alabama on my annual trip down south to drop my snow bird friend Michelle off in Florida, we went for a short walk (less than 1 mile) and I was so winded I could hardly talk and walk at the same time. From that day symptoms got worse pretty quickly, and I landed myself in the hospital in Florida for 3 nights while we tried to figure out what was wrong. Fluid in my lungs is all we really knew. Jeff flew down to be by my side, I received IV antibiotics to treat it should it be pneumonia then released to fly home where I could see my medical team! 

A day later a CT scan confirmed that I had fluid in my right lung, likely to be malignant and also had signs of new breast cancer growth in both my right and left lung.  My amazing oncologist called me within 20 minutes of my scan to schedule me for a thoracentesis to have the fluid removed (picture below) and he started searching for a new clinical trial for me to start. It was crazy how during the 4 days between my CT scan and the thoracentesis procedure how difficult breathing got, walking to go the bathroom or showering made me feel like I had gone for a run.

Moments following the thoracentesis I immediately began to feel relief, was able to take deep breathes, walk again without having to catch my breath and as the days following went on, I continued to feel better and more like my usual self. 

This week is filled with 4 doctor's appointments and the start of a new oral chemotherapy for me. I am so blessed to continue to qualify for clinical trials and have such an amazing care team. 

Luckily, I wasn't in that valley for long and am starting the trek back up the hill. Confident the treatment will get me back to the top! God has got this! As always, so thankful for my medical team, science, my family and friends, church, life group and all the people praying for me! The prayers are working.

Don't take one day for granted, if you are healthy enough to do the things, do them! Go for the slow walk, run or bike ride. Visit your parents and grandparents, check items off your bucket list because one day you won't be able to do those things anymore. #getbusyliving 

Below are a few pictures, Alaska, Alabama with Michelle, the nasty fluid in my lung, and part of my awesome family that often goes to appointments with me, my Dad and dear friend Becky Chase after my thoracenteses. 

Family life is great! My son got married in June and I gained a beautiful daughter in law. Brooke is a junior at GVSU and Jeff and I got a puppy (picture below) Call us crazy, because we are!

Peace and Love,

Chris, Jeff and family. 

 Chemo Break Ups are Hard.

All break ups are hard, right?  Especially Chemo breakups.  For the last year, every other week I have had an infusion of a clinical trial chemotherapy that targets only the bad cells and protects the good cells. So exciting that scientists are figuring out how to do this! It has been one of my best years yet! I have felt so good and "normal" while receiving this treatment.  

The Bad News: We learned that my cancer has outsmarted this treatment and began to grow more. The good news inside the bad, the cancer has only grown in the same area that it always does.  So, it isn't in any new organs or places.  

Science evolves every day and I have several treatment options available.  We have been really happy with the success from clinical trials and have decided to try another one.  Next week I will be starting an oral chemotherapy trial made by Pfizer.  We are excited it's an oral treatment as that means less trips to Grand Rapids! We are praying it does its job for a long time. 

God is good every day and he gives me the strength I need to get through these times. We continue to ask for prayers that the treatment does it's job also pray for my kids and Jeff as well, these changes are never easy on them. 

We are in full empty nester mode and really enjoy our time together. Since I am feeling so great and have been doing so well, I decided to go back to work full time.  I am working remotely (yay) for Vision Service Plan (VSP) as a credentialing analyst.  I am really enjoying having a daily routine, something other than cancer to focus on and contributing to the household income again. The job is flexible and allows me to continue to #getbusyliving.  We have 3 winter trips planned and we are working on a big summer trip to celebrate our 25th anniversary. 

Here is a family picture (minus Peyton) from this summer.

Peace and Love,

Chris Stark and Family

 Grateful Thankful and Blessed    

Grateful, Thankful and Blessed.  Might sound a bit clique but it's so true.  I am grateful and thankful to be here.  Present in life, feeling well, receiving the benefits of a clinical trial and science.  Living my life. Blessed to have a fantastic medial team, supportive and caring family and friends that help me and pray with me.  

As I mentioned before I scan for cancer growth 6 weeks at a time.  Yesterday was 18 weeks since I started my current clinical trial, and it is still keeping my cancer STABLE. Statistically speaking each time, you start a new cancer drug it typically will work for shorter periods of time until you run out of treatment options.  I am hopeful that this will be the treatment that works for years for me, changing that statistic!  I am not an anxious person, I rarely worry about anything, instead I pray.  This past week I was a wreck, not sleeping at night, having a hard time focusing on life, I couldn't stop thinking about all the things in the future I want to be here and healthy for.  My son's wedding, college graduations another summer on the water.  Jeff was the same way, not sleeping well. A co-worker told him that he was being short at work.  That's what us cancer patients call scan-xiety. (The anxiety associated with caner-detecting scans) It was amazing how after we received the stable news yesterday that those feelings went away, and I slept so well last night, at least for another 6 weeks until we scan again. 

Jeff and I are adjusting very well to being empty nesters.  It is so enjoyable watching our kids turn into adults, talking about their futures and attending college.  We truly love our quite evenings at home, talking, reading, watching shows together. Walking through the door to the house being exactly how we left it.  We also love it when the kids come home to visit, bringing loads of laundry they want help with, asking for home cooked meals, playing games together and having adult conversations.  This is a fun chapter of life! Next month we are chasing the sunshine to Belize with some friends!  We are so excited for some relaxing time together and to explore a place we haven't been before.  Get Busy Living my friends, life is too short!

Peace and love,

Chris Stark and family

 6 weeks at a time...

It has been one year since I started clinical trials.  I have had a CT scan every 6 weeks for the last year.  Yesterday as I laid in the CT machine, I said to the technician, "the results from the next 5 minutes determines my life path for the next 6 weeks."  I am so grateful to qualify for clinical trials, but at the same time they are a lot of work.  With a trial you are monitored very closely, and often.  In the past two months I have had 22 doctor's appointments and a surgery. That definitely puts a crimp in my "Get Busy Living" routine. But I am here, I continue to qualify for the ever-changing science world, and the results from my scan yesterday show that my treatment is working.  A few of my tumors have shrunk in the last six weeks and there is no new growth.  Qualifying for a clinical trial when you have cancer is like winning the lottery. (that's life in the cancer world) So, for the next 6 weeks I will continue to receive intravenous chemotherapy every other week and then we will scan again.  I am also incredibly grateful that my side effects tend to be minimal and overall, I have a pretty awesome quality of life.  

Fall has been fun for our family!  Last weekend we had a half marathon run\bike along the shore of White Lake with the beautiful fall colors.  I borrowed a friends e-bike which was a total blast!  E-bikes are a game changer.  While I might be able to pedal 13 miles, it would definitely put me in bed for a few days following.  With cancer, you have to learn your boundaries.  That is one of the hardest things about having cancer and the side effects of cancer treatments. You are not able to do things you once did.  If you learn one thing from me, don't take the things you are able to do for granted, because some day those things might change. I can't get up and go for a run like I once did.  I can bike, but I have to be prepared to pay for it in the days following.  I must say though, it was pretty fun cruising up the hills on the e-bike flying by my friends pedaling their hardest to make it up hill. :) 

                                            Pictures of the half marathon participates. 

I was also able to sneak away for 6 days and drive with my snowbird friend Michelle down to Naples.  We had a great time during our car ride, laughing about old stories, talking about life, being real about our feelings, listening to audio books and crime stories.  I cherish those car rides with her every year, and I hope I am able to continue our tradition for years to come.  This year we spent a few days in Huntsville Alabama with Michelles Uncle Bob. Huntsville is a great town, and it was awesome to get to know Uncle Bob and hear about Michelles childhood. 

    

The kids are great.  Bryce is a Senior already; he will graduate in December 2023 with a Bachelors in Exercise Science.  Brooke is a Freshman at GVSU and off to a great start!  Peyton is taking a semester off of school and is working as he decides what he wants to do.  They are all healthy, happy and I am still here to watch them grow and succeed.  

Keep the prayers coming, they are working!  We praise God every day! 

Get Busy Living!

Love and Peace,

Chris

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

 I was 30 years old when I was diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer, did everything I could to irradicate the cancer from my body and at one point was deemed cancer free.  At 39 years old, cancer came back, this time stage 4, breast cancer had shown up in the lining on my left lung. At 43 years old the cancer had grown in my left lung some more and 3 months later the cancer entered my right lung as well.  I also had pleural effusion in the right lung. My medical team suggested a clinical trial made by Pfizer for me. I have all the markers that make me a good candidate for this trial. So, 9 weeks ago I entered the Pfizer clinical trial and had my first scan last week.  The results of my scan show that the tumor in my right lung and the pleural effusion are GONE, GONE after 8 weeks of the clinical trial!  I still have the old cancer in my left lung, however knowing even some of it is gone is amazing!  The plan is to continue the clinical trial and be scanned again in 8 weeks.  That will be the plan for as long as this new chemotherapy works.  No one knows how long this ride will last however we will enjoy every minute of it!  Life is too short for anyone not to enjoy every minute.

I have so much Thanksgiving and Gratitude to God, Science and Oncology Research.  Without all of them I wouldn't be where I am today.  If you're looking to make a donation to a cancer organization, please donate to Hope Scarves.  Founded by my friend and Whitehall native Lara.  Hope Scarves Hope Scarves | Scarves, stories & research donations will go directly to Metastatic (stage 4) breast cancer research.   Please continue to pray for me, my family, science, research and my fellow friends also facing metastatic breast cancer.

As for the rest of our life, things are good.  I retired from my career at Blue Sky Vision in October of 2020, it has been a great decision.  I now use my energy on my family, around the house and can focus on selfcare instead of coming home from work exhausted and napping.  I am on a much better sleep schedule and can manage chemotherapy side effects much better. I do pour beer once a week at North Grove Brewery in Montague, usually on Monday's. It is a fun job, gets me out of the house and brings in some extra spending money for my adventures. Jeff and I rang in the New Year in Florida with our lifelong friends, it was just the trip and time with friends we needed. We also visited the Hiltz family checked out their adorable winter home and met their good friends.  Brooke is a senior in high school and will be attending GVSU in the fall and plans to become a Physician Assistant. Bryce is a junior at Hope College majoring in Exercise Science and will be doing an internship this summer at the University of Kansas under Matt Gildersleeve who is the Director of Football Sports Performance for the Jayhawks. Peyton is a junior at Cornerstone and perusing a degree in Education.  They were all home for Christmas, and it was great to be together again! Celebrating life, Christmas, attending church, breaking bread and playing games all under one roof. 

I will leave you with PSALM 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

#getbusyliving

                                            Family Picture at Christmas

                                            Time with the Hiltz family and friends in Florida