Megan Roché - Together We Fight!
My wife, Megan Roche' was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer on September 23, 2016. After following up on a suspicious lesion on her pancreas through CT scans, a biopsy of the pancreas confirmed the diagnosis: Pancreeatic Cancer. The words no one can ever prepare to hear.
Megan is the sole wage earner in our family as I have been dealing with my own significant health issues that have made me unable to work for the last three years.
In a rare raction to the biopsy, Megan developed a severe case of pancreatitis that hospitalized her for a week in extreme pain. Due to the pancreatitis, her planned surgery to remove the tumor was postponed to allow the pancreas time to recover. Further imagining then revealed suspicious lesions on her liver. She had to undergo a laparoscopic biopsy where doctors found eight tumors on her liver and two on the peritoneal lining of the abdominal cavity resulting in a Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer diagnosis that can no longer be fixed by surgery. The initial treatment plan is 6 months of chemotherapy. What comes after that, we do not know.
Megan is a bright and happy person - her smile is contagious as is her positive attitude! She strives to make the world a better place every day and for every person she meets.
She adores animals and has always had some sort of furry critter in her life. One of her volunteer organizations is Fences for Fido which is a local program which installs fenced yards to free chained-up dogs. She is a loving and caring wife and friend and she always is there for anyone who needs or wants help.
Megan worked her way through law school and practiced real estate law until the Great Recession. Since then, she has helped create workout solutions for her clients and the banks she worked for during the housing crash. As a member of the Washington Federal family, she is renowned for bringing people together with her stellar potluck and Christmas party planning. She loves to cook and has hosted many amazing dinner parties for friends and family. One NYE, we hosted a 13-course tasting menu that our friends are still talking about to this day!
We are asking friends, family, colleagues and all of the people whose lives have been brightened by Megan to join us to support this fight. Funds will be used for medical expenses, chemo treatments, nutritional support, holistic treatments and counseling to help with the spiritual and emotional trauma of fighting cancer. (Any unused funds will be donated to pancreatic cancer research.) November 17th is World Pancreatic Cancer Day- Please join us in the fight!
To get to know us better, I wrote...
The Story of Us
I met my beautiful wife in the most unusual way - she hired me for a position at a day spa she was helping a friend run soon after law school. The moment I met her I knew there was something incredibly special about this lady. A whirlwind romance started and we were soon married.
Life was idyllic for a few years - we laughed, we loved, we travelled and both of our career paths were going along. We were happy and we thought we had it all figured out. Boy were we wrong! In March of 2013 our lives changed drastically. I had an acute diverticulitis attack which put me in the hospital for 5 days. After a 30-day recovery, I tried to go back to work but I was not the same and could not work to my normal level. I was a medical massage therapist for 25 years and that job takes considerable strength and endurance, which I no longer possessed. In July of 2013, I was forced to close my business due to health reasons. We thought okay, things change and we go on. All this time, Megan was a rock! She was by my side and life went on. Life decided that it was not interesting enough yet so in October of 2013, I had another more severe diverticulitis attack this time 10 days in the hospital with a bowel perforation. The recovery from that episode was hard. I lost 40+ pounds and had major issues with severe pain and the inability to eat. Still, during all that time, Megan remained strong, positive and doing everything she could to support us and keep us moving forward.
Flash forward 3 years, I am still having my health issues but we had adapted to them and life was becoming “normal” when, in July of 2016, Megan had the first of many gallbladder attacks which sent us to the ER on 4 separate occasions. On the 4th trip, we/they decided enough is enough and the gallbladder has to come out. Okay we thought lots of people have gallbladder surgery and lead a normal happy life after. Surgery done, she recovers, and life goes on. Well that was the plan but once again life, in its mysterious way, had other ideas. During the CT scan for the gallbladder, they found a lesion on her pancreas. We thought lesion - not so bad. I was told I had a lesion on my liver during my hospital stay for my diverticulitis so no big deal. Boy were we wrong! A few tests later and boom! The lesion is now pancreatic cancer! Holy Bleep! Those are words you just don’t want to hear ever! Especially if they are about someone you love with every breath you take. Our hearts sunk and we were in shock. So that news settles in but there is a glimmer of hope. The surgeon says that the tumor was isolated on the tail of the pancreas and could be removed surgically. We thought yes! Let's get that thing out of there and she can recover and be a survivor.
Another curve ball awaited us, the biopsy procedure, an endoscopic ultrasound biopsy, had a rare and very unpleasant side effect. Megan developed pancreatitis; let me tell you don’t want that. She was in a lot of pain which lead to her spending 7 days in the hospital. During her stay, they did a CT scan because she was having an intermittent fever and they suspected she had developed an abscess.
Guess what no abscess but there was a suspicious spot on her liver. We were like - oh great - we have heard that news before. So they scheduled and did a liver biopsy to check on the spot on her liver (during that surgery she also had a port installed for her chemotherapy treatments).
We hoped that it was not cancerous but alas it was. What the %! So now we get the results back and she has 10 spots on her liver and 2 spots on her peritoneal wall (2 liver spots were biopsied completely leaving 8 spots). That means she has stage 4 pancreatic cancer!! We were in even more shock at this news. During all this time, the medical bills keep coming and will keep coming during her treatment.
If my wife has brightened your day or helped you just because that who she is, or our story has made you think wow they have been through the ringer, please help us fight this terrible disease. I know most of you have personally known or have someone you know has been affected by cancer. Cancer is a horrible and debilitating condition; it sucks the smile, the joy, and the very life out of those who have it and those who love them. Thank you for taking the time to read the “Story of Us”. Updates on treatment progress will be posted here and on Caring Bridge.