From Healthy to Cancer Patient in 6 Weeks - 2025 Personal Journey Blog

From Healthy to Cancer Patient in 6 Weeks
By Stanley Perret / July 24, 2025

Six weeks ago, I was healthy.

At least, I thought I was.

I was going about life like most of us do working, running errands, paying my bills, taking care of responsibilities, making plans, thinking about tomorrow without questioning if I had one. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, everything changed.

What started as vague discomfort, a few shots of pain, and a little blood turned into tests. Tests turned into scans. Scans turned into a conversation I never imagined I’d have: I was diagnosed with Invasive Adenocarcinoma, moderately differentiated - colon cancer. I went from “healthy” to “cancer patient” in the blink of an eye.

I’m writing this from a place I never pictured myself: a hospital bed. One surgery down, and one more to go. And with that final surgery scheduled for Friday, July 24, 2025, my life is sitting on a hinge waiting to swing one way or the other.

The plan is to remove the tumor or as they call it the "Cancerous Mass" that has all but caused a complete blockage. Best-case scenario, the cancer comes out with it. Worst case? I begin chemo. Either way, my journey with cancer isn’t ending on Friday. It’s just beginning.

It’s hard to explain how fast your world can shift. One week you’re planning a weekend trip, and the next you're signing consent forms and being wheeled into an OR. You feel like a stranger in your own body like it betrayed you, quietly and suddenly. You replay the signs you might have missed. You wonder how long it’s been growing without you knowing. You ask why. And there aren’t always answers.

I am having moments of strength that I didn’t know I was capable of. I am having moments of fear so deep it feels like I am drowning. And I’ve had to learn to accept help, to lean on others when I’m used to being the one holding everyone else up. That’s a hard lesson.

Right now, I don’t know what’s next. I don’t know if I’ll walk out of that OR cancer-free, or if I’ll be facing months of chemo, scans, side effects, and uncertainty. What I do know is this: I’m not alone. I’m loved. And I’m not giving up.

This isn’t the story I wanted to tell. But it’s mine now.

If you're reading this, thank you for walking with me, even for a few minutes. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll keep sharing as I go. Because maybe, someday, someone else in a hospital bed will read this and feel a little less alone.

See you on the other side of Friday.

— Stanley Perret 

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