In May 2010, my doctor informed me I had pancreatic cancer. He explained that pancreatic cancer is the silent cancer and only 6% of patients live after it is found. He stated that I had two choices: operate ASAP, or die a painful and horrible death. I chose surgery. It was at this point that Bill’s Team Survival was created. My survival team included top-notch surgeons, about a dozen different types of nurses, lab technicians, candy stripers, dieticians, cooks, an anesthesiologist, and other professionals who did things I won’t or can’t mention. My family and my faith were major team leaders. I made it through 12-plus hours of surgery and I now know what it is like to go through a meat grinder. I was told there were a couple of times that I almost didn’t make it. Fortunately, it just wasn’t my time.
This was not the end of Team Survival—just the start. One week after surgery—with most of my pancreas, my spleen, and some other doodads gone, and weighing about 90 pounds lighter—I left the hospital with my Team Survival still intact. I had no idea how my life would change. Over the last seven years I have become diabetic (due to not having a whole pancreas), had more CT scans, blood tests, gained a new attitude, got a little depressed at times, but Team Survival is still on the job.