I have hope and would like to help others who are fighting cancer know what it is like to live with hope instead of constant fear.  My name is Josh Davis .  My fight with cancer has been tough but I have had the better end of the deal.  In a way I almost feel guilty, as if I get the easy way out.  That feeling has led me to try and help others whose fight is so much harder than my own.

I got sick the middle of September, 2006.  I had bad abdominal cramps and pains.  I continued to work as a chef in Myrtle Beach, SC where I had recently moved.  I had not been there long and had not had the chance to establish myself or any type of health care.  I did borrow money to purchase a health care policy in the beginning of September after I walked away from a car wreck that should have killed me.  Looking back, I felt bad after eating anything since the end of may.  It was attributed to stress and acid reflux.  I was given reflux medication and symptoms improved.

By the end of September I was feeling bad more often and went to the emergency room for relief.  I think they thought I was drug seeking since I looked pretty gaunt and couldn't pinpoint a precise pain location.  I was treated for acid reflux, GERD, and scheduled for a colonoscopy to check for Crones disease.  During the course of the month it took for all of this, it became increasingly difficult to eat without pain soon following. I lost over 40 pounds in about 30 days.  My body was sore and I was so weak I began to metabolize my own muscles for energy.  When I went to the ER the third time (after insurance) I insisted they do something about it.  They took an X-ray for the first time and saw that my colon was "thickened".  They moved the colonoscopy up and I went home to prepare for it.

When I took the bowel prep for the procedure, it had the reverse effect as I began to vomit off and on for approximately seventeen hours.  My intestinal track was completely blocked by an intestinal tumor which had begun to perforate the walls of the colon.  Not knowing this, I went to the doctors office for the colonoscopy.  They said they could not do the procedure if I had not passed any fluids and the doctor suggested we try a different bowel prep, assuming I was allergic, hence the vomiting.  I refused and demanded he admit me to the hospital next door which he agreed with me after trying to talk me out of it.  Later that day after X-rays and blood work, he came back and told me we had made a good call and that I was blocked.  They then put a tube in me, gave me fluids and antibiotics to calm down the inflammation causing the blockage.  For three days the "inflammation" did not get any better, so expecting to find Crones disease, the performed exploratory surgery.  I awoke from surgery thinking everything was over.  I had 22 staples and a six inch scar on my stomach.  Everyone hid the fact that they had removed cancer from my body for days. even my parents (under the advice of the surgeon) until the doctor that admitted me let the news slip.  At first I was furious but that passed quickly as I realized the gravity of the news.  The pathology report came back and indicated that 4 out of 29 lymph nodes had spreading cancer in them.  I had stage 3 colon cancer.  They had removed 15 inches of my bowels along with my appendix and a 3.2 cm tumor which had grown aggressively over the past year, causing my discomfort and eventually threatening my life.  I had weeks before my intestinal wall was perforated and I went septic, or I literally starved to death.  Three weeks later I was passing stool and walking although both took effort. 

I came home to my parents house saw the oncologist, and scheduled the surgery to place the port for the chemotherapy and tried to put on weight to prepare for chemo.  The chemo was set for 12 sessions every other week.  I went in  on every other Tuesday morning, they took blood and did blood work.  I was then in "the chair" for the rest of the day as poisons were injected into my body.  I was sent home with a pump that dosed me overnight until I went back Wednesday afternoon.  I got some more of the "bad stuff" and was again sent home with the pump.  A nurse came to the house Thursday and unhooked me.  Fridays and Saturdays were the worst after chemo.  I went to my room ("the cave") and hunkered down while my body fought off the poisons. I was usually feeling better by Sunday or Monday but the nerve sensitivity continued long after the 24 weeks of treatment was over.

Since, my nerves have returned to normal, I've had three clean CAT scans and I'm cleared to do the Hike4Hope.  Oh yes, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina found and emergency room visit I forgot to put don on my application.  They voided the entire policy as if it had never been in place.