Chris here with a very personal update and favor for my Dad…

(FYI – a new article series and video training are in the works, so consider this post the calm before the next content storm. ) 🙂

Long-time subscribers may remember that years ago my Mom (Mary Ann) battled breast cancer.  Although it was difficult at the time, I pulled back the curtain to share that struggle with you in my email newsletter (back before blogs even existed).

With a great dose of humanity and understanding, my subscribers flooded her inbox with prayers, support and kind words that brought many smiles and helped her face the surgeries, treatment and the unknown.

Fortunately, she won that battle and has been cancer-free for 5+ years!  To celebrate, we held giveaways for you, tied in our sales events with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity foundation and much more.  I’m deeply grateful for the support you all gave her.

Now jumping ahead years later…

You may have realized that I’ve been “quieter” on the blog and with my emails for much of this year.  There’s a good reason for that.  And it’s time let you know why…

Toward the beginning of this year my Dad, Rich Zavadowski (one of my close friends, and also the creator of the “Government Contract Secrets” course my company publishes), became very ill…so bad that he had to stay home from work.

I’ll spare you all of the details, but the result was he looked like a pale ghost, with zero appetite or energy.

While the dozens of tests started to point toward a lymphoma, his lymph node biopsy continued to baffle the local pathologists and labs.  It took almost three months of chasing down doctors and labs (totally unacceptable when you’re dealing with someone’s life!) until we got everything over to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)…specifically the National Cancer Institute.

Then within days this top notch facility finally nailed things down and handed my Dad a confirmed diagnosis: Stage IV Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma, unspecified. 🙁

Basically his cancer was as advanced as it could be (appearing in his blood, lymph nodes, bone marrow and metastasized on his leg and a couple ribs).  While lymphoma is the fifth most common cancer among men and women in the USA (approximately 74,340 new cases in 2008 alone), the type my Dad has is very rare.

Because so few people have this, there’s not enough data in the medical community to suggest the ‘best’ treatment for this (heck, there’s not even a standard treatment for this).

—- SIDE NOTE —

If you know anyone with ANY type of cancer…get them to an NCI “Comprehensive Cancer Center“ — because as we’ve quickly come to learn, the quality of care and expertise in the cancer field is all over the map. There isn’t always one right treatment…but there are wrong ways to treat (our initial doctor had recommended a surgery and treatment that were TOTALLY unnecessary…and could have killed him!). When someone’s life is involved, don’t settle for only the local doc’s opinion…get an expert to weigh in.

—- SIDE NOTE —

Well, after a few trying days and thinking long and hard about the options, my Dad decided to be part of a clinical trial (called a “protocol”) run by NIH’s NCI (a world-class, amazing facility that gets patients flying in from all over the place).

While it’s a much more aggressive treatment, with increased side effects and risks, it’s also something they are testing specifically for t-cell lymphomas.  It involves 5 days of steady chemotherapy…repeated every 3 weeks over a period of about 4 months.

Anyway, I promised him at the beginning of this journey that I’d be there for every doctor’s visit, test, treatment and more.   So that’s why I’ve been a little quieter this year — I’ve been helping Dad and Mom go through all of this, along with organizing all the test results, appointments and more.  (And MAJOR credit goes to Mom — Mary Ann — who helps him through this 24×7.  She’s an unsung hero in all of this!)

It’s times like these when you truly realize what a blessing having an online business is!

Now the National Cancer Institute estimates in January 2004 alone, there were 10.8 million Americans alive with a history of cancer.  And this year, 1,437,180 new cases are expected.  Survival rates have increased as detection *and* treatment methods have improved, but we’ve still got a long way to go.

Chances are you or a loved one have been touched by cancer, so you know first-hand how emotional and scary this journey is for an entire family.

That’s where YOU (and my personal favor) come in…

My Dad is going through chemotherapy as we speak, and soon he’ll receive follow-up test results showing how well treatment has worked so far.  (Regardless of the outcome, he still has several more months of getting knocked on his ass by the chemo.)

Just like I did with my Mom years ago, I’d like to ask you to leave a comment on this blog with an inspirational thought or ‘get well’ message for my Dad, Rich Zavadowski.

I’m going to print the comments off and put them in a “Happy Thoughts” binder I’ve created for him to chronicle the outpouring of support (and emails) we’ve been receiving from family and friends online.  Your kind words posted here will go directly into this special book for him.

With cancer and the drugs he’s on, there are some very tense, depressing days, so when he’s a little down or needs a “pick me up” to get his head back in the right place, he can just turn to any page and see how much positive energy is coming his way.  It’ll help give him strength for when he beats this cancer and returns back to a normal life!

Thanks in advance for this favor — and stay tuned for some new surprises coming to the blog as a big thank you!

Chris 🙂

P.S. – Let’s not forget..my Dad is now a part of the “solution” for cancer – he’s on the cutting edge of research helping them learn more about this crazy disease. And some day down the road when they cure it, he’ll have played his part in that.  You go, Dad. 🙂

P.P.S. — If you feel comfortable doing it, please leave him a positive note below on this blog post as he continues to battle this.  It would mean the world to him (and my Mom and me).

He’s facing a very aggressive, rare cancer and can use all the positive energy, prayers and good thoughts you can send.  We all know a smile and good thought can go a long way…and the right thoughts can change a life for the better!