CANCER AWARENESS – A Personal Story of Triumph

Surviving and Thriving Through Healthy Living

By Joe Zacher

Late summer in 1994, when I was a healthy, active 26 year old,  I started to notice a slight blurriness in my left eye that would not go away with a change of contacts and glasses.  After a visit to my eye doctor that determined I had lost about 40% of my peripheral vision in my left eye I had a head scan that revealed a tumor in the front part of my brain that was partially sitting on my left optic nerve causing the blurriness and peripheral loss. The neurosurgeon felt confident he could remove the tumor but there was a good chance the vision would not be corrected after the tumor was removed or it could be even worse.   

On Jan. 5^th 1995 I had the tumor removed and fortunately  my vision cleared up and the peripheral vision was restored except for one small spot.  Over the next couple years I went through recovery and a move from Kansas to Atlanta.  As I was able to increase my activity I instantly started to feel the benefits.  Mentally and physically it made a big difference.  Greater clarity, physical well being, and truly feeling back to normal. In the next few years I continued to keep active, I met my wife, Deb, we relocated to Raleigh, NC and welcomed our first daughter, Sydney.

Then in early 2003, a new tumor was found in almost the identical spot as the last one. This tumor took a more permanent toll on my vision and I ended up losing about 80% of  the vision in my left eye..  Since they were unable to remove all of the tumor and there was a risk of additional recurrences my next step was radiation treatments.  I received treatment at UNC where the staff was great and I met some new good friends including Dr. David Morris my Oncology doctor. 

I was prepared for the 8 weeks of radiation and informed of the most likely side effects like hair loss, dry skin, and fatigue.  There had been a couple months between the surgery and the radiation treatments so I was able to build up to some light jogging and  light exercise at the gym.  When the radiation treatments started I continued to stay active most every day and worked to continually improve my fitness.  Several weeks passed and I suffered no side effects besides a little fatigue.  

The difference in recovery between my first and second surgeries was night and day.  The first time going into surgery after being active helped reduce my hospital stay and I felt good afterward.  But the post operative regime of very limited activity definitely slowed my full recovery.  After the second surgery the doctors were more open to me picking up the activity in moderate stages not long after I left the hospital.  Even after  adding the strain of the radiation treatments after the second surgery I felt I was back to full strength  months ahead of the first surgery due to the fact I was able to be active.  In 2004, we had happy news, as our second daughter, Hope, was added to our family.

For the next few years my routine quarterly scans came back clean until late 2007 when they revealed another tumor in a new location of the brain.  This tumor  hit me harder mentally then the other ones.  One of the simplest ways that has helped me cope is to  think of the many other people that have it so much worse than I do.  If I ever needed a dose of reality I would  think about the times I  walked through the pediatric oncology unit and saw what those kids and their parents were going through.  Or I would bring to mind  the people I met during my radiation treatments that were hoping for a miracle to save them.

My Neurosurgeon Dr. Matthew Ewend at UNC did a great job and my 3^rd surgery could not have been better. I again hit my 3-day-hospital stay and was off to recovery.  But this time I had something else to prove.  It was not just me that this 3^rd surgery affected more than usual but I felt like it also hit my wife, family and friends a little more as well.  I talked with my wife and the doctors and although they looked at me like I was a little nuts they gave me the clear to go after an Ironman event in 2009.  My goal was to go from surgery to an Ironman finish within a year and to show the cancer that it may cause a bump in the road but my journey will continue.    

It ended up being 13 months post surgery but on August 30^th I competed in and finished the Louisville Ironman event.  It was not only my first Ironman but also my first marathon.  To cap off the year 2 months after the Louisville Ironman  I competed in and finished my second Ironman event the Beach 2 Battleship Ironman in Wrightsville Beach.  

When I found out about my first tumor and through the years friends were surprised at how someone who stayed active and lived a pretty healthy life could have this happen to them.  There are many types of cancer that are preventable by making better choices but unfortunately there are also even more that can hit anyone with no discrimination.  What is clear is that by being active, making better choices you minimize your chances of getting cancer or other types of illness and if you have cancer or other  illnesses being active  makes a big difference in how it affects you and how quickly you recover.  I can say without a doubt keeping active has made a huge difference in my quality of life.  I have decreased my risk of complications in surgery, chances of recurrences, and my mental downtime, all while I increased my post surgery recuperation time, mental uptime, quality of life with my family and just overall time I have to enjoy life.

I consider myself a truly lucky person.  I have two beautiful, active daughters and a supportive, very active  wife.  Someday I hope to compete at Hawaii Ironman to help to continue raising awareness, raise money for research and show those that are affected by cancer along with their friends and family the road may have changed but the new journey can be just as good or even better than before.  Not sure how I will get there since qualifying is very tough and the lottery may be even tougher but, just like fighting cancer I will not give up and staying fit greatly helps me physically and mentally approach, tackle, and recover from any obstacles that may come my way on the journey. 

# # #