Listen to your gut.
Chappy, a kinesiologist, experienced two bouts of hematuria (blood in the urine). I didn’t feel or look sick. but my instincts told me to get this taken care of right away he says By mid-month, Chappy had met with his primary care physician had an emergency CT scan and an ultrasound, then two core biopsies, which showed he had Renal cell cancer RCC. “Early detection is huge, he says
Head to your library or bookstore.
For accurate data, Chappy relied on the book 100 Questions and Answers About Kidney Cancer, third edition ” It gave me a lot of sold information in layman’s terms”. And to help explain his health crisis to the kids, ages 10 7 and 5. Chappy and his wife, Cindy, turned to children’s books “One of our daughters read a hook that talked about biopsies, radiation. and chemo and explained cancer as a chronic disease as opposed to a terminal diagnosis.”
Develop a warrior mentality.
“For me, my cancer journey was a complete mental battle,” says Chappy. “Once I decided to have surgery (to have his diseased kidney removed), I threw a going-away party for my left kidney he laughs. “The way I looked at it was like this ‘Okay, my kidney did its job for the last 44 years. But cancer invited itself, so it’s got to go. Sorry Leftie!’ This was a great shift for my mind.”
Pay it forward.
During his spare time. Chappy-who is now cancer-free and can be found on Instagram @coach chappy helps raise funds and awareness for cancer on behalf of The Terry Fox Foundation, charity named after the man who, nearly 40 years ago lost his leg to cancer and ran across Canada to raise money for research. “When Terry ran. I was five-years old – the same age as my youngest daughter says Chappy “To think that he was running for me-in terms of research-has made a tremendous impact on me and my family.”
