Celebration of Life for James

Phylisha & Phyra are asking for your support in an effort to help ease the burden for James's final expenses. Life is gonna be trecherous with losing James in the coming months and years for them and Phylisha & Phyra are asking for your help financially and emotionally.

Thank you as always for your prayers and warm thoughts!! 

A story by Phylisha of James's Journey over the past few years follows with many details of his procedures, treatments, his words of wisdom and of the tremendous pain he is now free from. Feel free to read and share so that others may remember James and help to continue on his legacy of love and tremendous faith in God.




James’s Journey—2009 to 2016:

James began experiencing health issues in the summer of 2009.  After several ER visits over a month and a half, doctors eventually found a blockage of his bile duct and placed a stent at the end of the August.   After the stent was placed, he had complications with the stent slipping or not staying in place at least twice, also had a liver biopsy, removal of his gall bladder, and also developed pancreatitis.  After further testing and ultrasounds at the age of 32, James was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, stage II.  A week after his 32nd birthday, James underwent an extensive operation called the Whipple procedure which removed parts of his pancreas, stomach, bile duct, and small intestine. After surgery, he underwent chemo.

James’s comment: “Prayers and support from all of you have not stopped, so neither will I.  I have strapped on my armor, and will fight with everything God has given me and more.”

After finishing treatments, James had CT scans or MRI’s to monitor for a recurrence due to the extremely high likelihood of a recurrence for pancreatic cancer.  Test results were good with no cancer for about 3 years.


In 2012, things were going well for James.  James & Phylisha had a beautiful daughter, Phyra Marie Wolfe on March 18th, 2012. A loving wife and daughter, 10 years at FedEx, and about 3 years cancer free.  Then in mid-October they found cancer in his pancreas again. 
James’s comment: “The doctors tell me that it is not a recurrence that this is totally separate from the first instance.   So I can still say I was completely healed!  They took my whole pancreas out this time, and left me as a medically induced type 1 diabetic.   Then 18 rounds of chemo and I should be cancer free again.  Don’t worry about me too much, God made me very tough. I eat nails for breakfast and crap hammers; not those little tack hammers either.  My biggest change is that I lost my driving job at FedEx because I am diabetic.  This is a federal thing not FedEx.  I am hoping they grow enough this next year to add a fulltime supervisor job or something for me.”  He started disability in mid-November 2012.

Chemo started in January 2013 with 18 rounds of chemo.  “Phylisha and Phyra took good care of me while I was on chemo.  They were there for most of my treatments, and certainly looked after me at home.”  Last chemo treatment was 5/23/13.  CT scan on 6/20/2013 was clear.

Due to medically induced diabetes restricting James from returning to work, he continued disability and also started COBRA health insurance in May 2013 to support his family.

9/25/2013: “I just had a clean MRI today!  Life is good and getting better all of the time!  Thank you to everyone in my life for being who you are.  If you were not, I would not be me. God bless, James”

12/17/2013: “Another clean MRI scan today!  This is the best Christmas present I could have hoped for!  If anyone claims miracles do not happen they are surely blind.  There is no coincidence in this world, and no such thing as a “small” miracle."  

"Do not hide yourself from the light; let Him shine down on you now and always" - James.

Christmas Letter 2013—James’s comments:  I (James) am healthy.  I lost a good portion of my hair to chemo, and shaved my head, but it is growing back.   I found a federal loophole to get my CDL back this last April, and I have jumped every hurdle and peed on every flaming hoop.  I am now just waiting on papers to make everything official.  Oh, yes, FedEx is holding my job and seniority slot for me!

12/24/2013: Diabetes Exemption obtained from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and James was able to return to work at FedEx with his Commercial Drivers License “CDL”.  James had to have a valid CDL to drive a semi, and fulfill his job as a city delivery driver.  


2014:
One year and one month later in January 2014 after becoming a medically induced diabetic, James returned to work at FedEx as a driver. COBRA health insurance ended in February 2014 and started back on the company benefits as an employee at FedEx.

3/18/14: CT scan & MRI had some change in area where pancreas was at the vessel leading into it but no concern.

4/4/14: Port was removed due to back working at FedEx.

5/13/14: Scope with a biopsy and also blood work but no concern.

5/21/14: CT Scan & CAT Scan showed no concerns.

8/26/14: CT scan was clear.

Becoming a FedEx driver was big for James cause he could fullfil his purpose to help others which he felt he was called to do but wasn’t sure if it was now or in the next life!!!

James became a driving instructor at FedEx on July 27th, 2014 or 3 months before his 37th birthday...Happy Birthday to James!!! James took on this new position shortly after finishing chemo and radiation. It seemed as though he finally got a break from everything...a miracle in fact since he went through so much just to go back to work as a driver with his Commercial Driver's License "CDL" after becoming a medically induced type 1 diabetic.

This instructor position was ultimately a great accomplishment for James to help other drivers succeed and drive safely at FedEx. If anyone has ever rode with James, he is a professional driver so you best be on top of your game and I mean that in a good way. Or he would critique your driving cause he truly cared and loved what he could do to help others whether at work, with family, friends, neighbors, etc. He also told me at one point that he was comfortable with my driving and as he profoundly stated "I can handle riding with you and I don't feel like I'm going to suck the seat up my butt when you're driving." Thanks for helping me to be a safe driver, James!! (And I hope to pass these good driving skills onto Phyra someday so she can also be a safe driver like her daddy.)

11/25/14: CT Scan with blood work showed concern at vessel where pancreas was originally located. 

12/5/14: CT scan showed recurrence at the vessel that led into the pancreas and needed to start chemo treatments again.

12/19/14: Port was placed to begin chemo treatments again. 



2015:Chemo started in January and lasted almost 6 months with 16 total treatments. James started disability in April 2015 due to unable to continue working with the chemo treatments.

6/23/15: CT scan showed concern and recommended radiation treatment.

7/6/15 – 7/17/15: James had radiation treatment with 16 total treatments.

8/8/15-8/9/15: Hospitalized with pain complications.

8/17/15: CT Scan.

10/11/15 – 10/13/15: Hospitalized for chronic pain.

11/17/15: CT scan showed no concern.

12/1/15: CT scan showed no concern.

2016:

End of January 2016: CT scan showed concern and recommended chemo treatments due to enlarged lymph nodes in chest.

February-April 2016: recommended 3 months of chemo, but due to complications with chronic pain and pain medications not working effectively the treatments were stopped at 2 ½ months.

Hospitalized multiple times at the end of April and most of May (4th- 9th, 15-20th) due to chronic pain. He also had other complications with swallowing and lost his voice.

5/10/16 had a nerve block procedure done to help with abdominal pain by blocking the celiac plexus, but didn’t provide relief as expected and had ongoing chronic pain issues in addition to medication side effects that led to a another hospitalization for high blood sugar.




At the end of May, a follow-up for the subsequent hospitalizations with oncology doctor reported findings that the lymph nodes in chest were still present and had gotten larger than before.  There was also another area of concern in his vertebrae of his mid-back that was minimal on a previous scan, but had changed considerably and was more prominent.  Doctor recommended further chemo treatment due to both of these changes.  James wished to fix the complications with swallowing and voice loss before continuing with any further treatment.  James’s pain was chronic because the pain was so debilitating that it would incapacitate him or even make him sick at times with nausea and vomiting and medications weren’t effective.

For the voice loss, James was referred to ENT(Ear, Nose, & Throat) specialist that found paralysis of one vocal chord.  Doctor recommended an injection of the vocal chord to prevent the gap/space for saliva, food, or any liquid to get into the lungs and cause aspiration pneumonia. Vocal chord procedure was done on 6/3/2016 and James could talk for about 5 days and then lost his voice again.

6/9/14-6/14/16: Hospitalized again for complications from chronic pain and also shortness of breath and vomiting.  Doctors still recommended chemo due to the spot in vertebrae of his back, but James was still in chronic pain and requested to control that first.  He was released from the hospital with a pain pump since he was having difficulty swallowing even crushed pills at times.

6/19/16: James was taken by ambulance to the hospital for shortness of breath, vomiting, and chest pains that were complications from the ongoing chronic pain. James admitted he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be here and wanted to have hospice care.  He was in the hospital till Saturday June 26th when he came home on hospice.

June 26th to Sunday July 3rd: James was on a pain pump and monitored around the clock by his family of caretakers in addition to hospice nurses to keep his pain controlled and help him rest in peace. 

Sunday, July 3rd: James left us shortly before church service started on Sunday morning and in his passing he was finally able to go to church and be with God.  He was freed from his constraints of unsurpassable pain!!! 

As his wife, I know he cared deeply about his relationship with God and had a strong relationship with God even outside of being unable to go to church due to the chronic pain that restricted him to home.  He was still my rock and support even through his chronic pain because he loved me and his vibrant daughter Phyra to the end…no matter how severe his pain was.  In fact, I truly believe he made the selfless act to let go and asked God to end his suffering because he didn’t want to see his family suffer anymore.  And as James previously quoted: “God and love is all you need, and all that will matter to you when your time here is done.”   He made a sacrifice as a lover and not a fighter.  As a lover, he told me many times he was more than happy with just a smile.  Smile at the one/ones you love because you never know the difference that it can make or when they will see your smile again.

Thank you for your contribution, thoughts, prayers, and everything else you have done!

God Bless & Smile-Phylisha & Phyra Wolfe