Dr. Rick Brown will win
Donation protected
Cancer?!
I started seeing symptoms in late spring. It was around the time we moved our offices under duress. I thought stress might be a factor, but when the symptoms did not resolve with time and my own treatment by the end of summer, I got a colonoscopy. It revealed stage III rectal cancer. Additional testing also exposed an early stage l lung cancer unrelated to the rectal cancer.
The last seven weeks have been a roller coaster ride. They have involved multiple appointments at Northwestern Hospital and Mayo Clinic which have finally culminated in a course of action that I can live with. (Pun intended) I will undergo lung surgery at Mayo Clinic on November 15, followed three weeks later by pelvic radiation at Northwestern Hospital. Pelvic surgery will be performed six weeks after that also at Northwestern. As a result, I doubt I will return to the office before March.
These are the challenges that have been dominating the actions of my and my family's lives these past few months, and yet, the most remarkable aspect of this ordeal has had nothing to do with the disease. The prevailing emotion I feel is not fear or even worry, but rather an overwhelming sense of gratitude accompanied by a beautiful , and quite often, tearful opening of my heart. It has been brought on by you, the family which I did not fully realize I was a part of. Your kind, caring words and your outpouring of love and support nourishes and energizes me as I move into this next phase of treatment. I enter into it not alone, but embraced by the collective energy of all of you. I am in awe and wonder at the place you have brought me to. Thank you!
I would ask one thing. Do not think of me with concern, but rather when you laugh. Let us share only in the healing joyfulness of the heart.
With vibrantly alive peace in my heart,
Rick
I started seeing symptoms in late spring. It was around the time we moved our offices under duress. I thought stress might be a factor, but when the symptoms did not resolve with time and my own treatment by the end of summer, I got a colonoscopy. It revealed stage III rectal cancer. Additional testing also exposed an early stage l lung cancer unrelated to the rectal cancer.
The last seven weeks have been a roller coaster ride. They have involved multiple appointments at Northwestern Hospital and Mayo Clinic which have finally culminated in a course of action that I can live with. (Pun intended) I will undergo lung surgery at Mayo Clinic on November 15, followed three weeks later by pelvic radiation at Northwestern Hospital. Pelvic surgery will be performed six weeks after that also at Northwestern. As a result, I doubt I will return to the office before March.
These are the challenges that have been dominating the actions of my and my family's lives these past few months, and yet, the most remarkable aspect of this ordeal has had nothing to do with the disease. The prevailing emotion I feel is not fear or even worry, but rather an overwhelming sense of gratitude accompanied by a beautiful , and quite often, tearful opening of my heart. It has been brought on by you, the family which I did not fully realize I was a part of. Your kind, caring words and your outpouring of love and support nourishes and energizes me as I move into this next phase of treatment. I enter into it not alone, but embraced by the collective energy of all of you. I am in awe and wonder at the place you have brought me to. Thank you!
I would ask one thing. Do not think of me with concern, but rather when you laugh. Let us share only in the healing joyfulness of the heart.
With vibrantly alive peace in my heart,
Rick
Organizer and beneficiary
Viki Korneyev
Organizer
Chicago, IL
George Rickey Brown
Beneficiary