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

Get Busy Living

 Since my last update, I have traveled to California with dear friends.  We visited Lake Tahoe, hiked some of Yosemite, hit some wineries in Napa Valley, went to the Coast, and San Francisco.  This was a bucket list trip for me, and I have great friends that made it happen.  The picture of me is in Yosemite resting on a rock over looking Sentinel Dome. One of the most beautiful places.  It was so peaceful and quite here, I could of sat there for hours soaking in the beauty of the mountains.  

I started new treatment in June after we found out that my current treatment of 4 1/2 years wasn't working any longer.  The new treatment started off fine, then I got the stomach flu, became severely dehydrated and spent a few nights in the hospital.  Ever since that time I hadn't really been able to tolerate my new treatment, it was causing my blood work to be really off, I had zero appetite and just felt crummy.  So we took a break for a few weeks, my blood work went back to normal and we restarted the same treatment on a lower dose.  I have been tolerating that much better, my blood work is back within normal ranges, I have an appetite again and feel better, except for the fact that I have been dealing with kidney stones for the last month.

Monday I had a CT scan to see how the new treatment is working.  We didn't get the news we were hoping for.  We found out that I have two new spots of breast cancer in my lungs.  A new spot in my right lung where the previous breast cancer is and also now a spot in my left lung, along with some increased plural effusion.  Also, imaging picked up that I my kidneys are "chucked full" as the PA put it of kidney stones.  Yesterday I met with urology to discuss the kidney stones, I have one in particular that is stuck, so I will be having surgery to have that removed. (unless I pass it before surgery which is my preference) Once they have the stone they will study it and we will see what we can do to prevent future stones.  Today I met with Dr. Alguire my oncologist to discuss my new progression and options that we have.  So far we have a tentative plan, we are going to start with a biopsy. This will tell us what my new growth is growing from.  In the past my tumors have grown off of estrogen.  If that is still the case, then I will be starting a clinical trial possibly along with another treatment.  If my receptors have changed then we will discuss chemotherapy options.  For the meantime I will be continuing the current treatment I am on.  Since I had to take a break from it, we want to be sure we gave it enough time to work.  So much information, so many things to research.  Cancer is complicated, it is tricky and smart, it finds ways to outsmart treatment and show up in new places.  It is ugly, expensive and exhausting.  

I honestly feel pretty good for a cancer patient.  Of course I have side effects to my treatment that aren't pretty, but I am able to live a fairly normal life still and I am grateful for that..  Life is to short with or without cancer to spend it being sad about my progression.  I will continue to do what I always do, surrendering to the Lord, he has a plan for me and all I can do is chose how I react to it.  I will chose to be happy, continue to love the life I have and Get Busy Living. 

Yesterday we celebrated Bryce's 21st birthday, Monday night we celebrated Brooke's induction to the National Honor Society.  Peyton is still at Cornerstone and is also on the basketball team.  Each week we attend Hope College Football games to watch Bryce and the team play. I am so blessed to be well enough to do these things and I won't take a moment of that time for granted.  

Peace and love,

Chris Stark

No Regrets

 When I was diagnosed with a terminal illness I instantly went into survival mode.  I wanted to live every moment as meaningful as I could.  I made my bucket list and immediately started checking items off of it, jumping out of airplanes or off the top of a building.  Taking my family to watch Michigan play in the Peach Bowl.  I have taken my children places I never thought we would be able to go, I have traveled with lifelong friends to incredible places, I have spent time with college friends I hadn’t seen in years.  I have been able to watch my children grow into young adults.  I have a box for each of my kids, I fill it with things I want them to have when I’m gone.  Family recipes, cards I have written for special occasions I may not be here to enjoy, a journal that I write in for each of them, prayers I say for them.  You see, when you have a terminal illness and you know your life will be cut much shorter than you want, you have time to prepare for these things.  Your able to have tough conversations, you can buy your daughter something blue to have with her on her wedding day. You can mend broken relationships, take care of unfinished business, and plan for the days when your family is here without you.  Of course I pray and strive to be here all of those days, but cancer may not allow that to happen.  When you have a terminal illness, living in the moment becomes very real.  Living with no regrets becomes a priority.  Then sometimes things happen in life, twists and turns and we are reminded yet again we aren’t in control.  The Lord is, he chooses our path.  We get to choose how we react to it.  Three weeks ago our best friend was taken from us unexpectedly.  He was supposed to take care of my family when I was gone.  He was going to be the strong one for them, that was our plan.  Craig didn’t get to prepare to be taken to soon, his parents, siblings, friends none of us got to prepare for him to suddenly be gone. So shouldn’t we all live with no regrets? Each day we should chose the Lord, kindness and love.  All any of us truly have is this moment right now.  As time passes and reality sets in that Craig isn’t going to walk back through our door it becomes more apparent to me than ever to live with no regrets.  

As far as cancer and my health goes, since  I have been on my new treatment plan, I have spent 4 nights in the hospital, had about every side effect my new meds have to offer, kidney stones, another break from treatment as my liver enzymes, potassium, and glucose have all been out of wack and now I’m back on treatment at a lower dose, praying my body tolerates this better.  Well be scanning soon to see if it’s working.  I keep doing all the things I did before and will continue to as long as I can because we should never take our health for granted. 

#getbusyliving 

This is a picture from when we attended the Peach Bowl  one of my favorite memories with some of my favorite people   

Peace and love,

Chris Stark

We knew this day would come.....

     Four and a half years ago when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer we knew the day would come that my first line treatment would stop working.  I was very blessed to have lived life over cancer for 4 and 1/2 years with minimal side effects.  During a routine scan it was discovered that the breast cancer in the lining of my right lung is growing.  The good news is, it hasn't spread anywhere else!  So what does this mean for us?  It means that I will no longer be taking Ibrance or receive Faslodex.  The cancer has out smarted that line of drugs and its time for something new.  I am working with my oncology team to come up with a new plan.  Right now we are working to determine if the cancer is in an area that can be biopsied.  Breast Cancer over time can change, my original tumor grew off of estrogen, so estrogen blockers were an effective treatment.  A biopsy would be able to tell us what this current tumor is feeding off of and what the best line of treatment would be.  

    The hardest part of all of this is telling my kids.  Bryce (20) is half way through college, still playing football, living on his own, working hard and is such a kind young adult.  It brings me so much joy to watch my kids grow, and become adults and do the things they love.  I don't want them for a second to stop living their life because of me, I don't think they understand the joy it brings a parent to watch them thrive and grow. Peyton (20) is attending Cornerstone University, playing on the basketball team and growing each day into an incredible young man.  Brooke (17) just finishing up her junior year in high school is a thriving student, an athlete who is running in the track state finals, an incredibly hard worker and a pure joy to be around.   My prayer for them is that during these hard and heavy times they turn to the Lord to lift them and help carry their burdens, that they know his plan is bigger than any of ours. 

    We learn so much about ourselves when we face trying times, without a doubt I would be in a dark place if I didn't have Jesus in my life.  I have learned to live for today, this moment make it count.  To be kind, you never know the battle someone else is facing. To do the things that make you happy and bring you joy. Get Busy Living! 

We welcome all prayers, for a good biopsy, strength and healing! 

Love and Peace,

Chris, Jeff, Bryce, Peyton and Brooke

Lauren Daigle - Trust In You (Live) - YouTube