A wife shares her journey with her husband’s diagnosis and the difficulties of being a Caregiver

Feb 03, 2022, 09:51 AM

Colleen LaSalle shares her journey with her husband, John, diagnosed with stage lV pancreatic cancer.  John was put in a clinical trial and told with chemo he would have 3 years and without chemo one year, sadly John was gone in four months.  Colleen was John's Caregiver, it was difficult, she went from being his wife to being more like a parent.  She shares how she had to keep things as normal as possible for her two daughters. Colleen received no training or advice on how to be a Caregiver; it was a  learn as you go experience. Colleen has gone from being a wife, mother, caregiver, volunteer, advocate.  She wants to be there for others, to offer them the support and knowledge this journey has brought her, something that unfortunately she learned along the way.  Colleen and her girls are involved in bringing awareness and advocacy because they don't want John to be forgotten "he was here, he was important, he will always be important." This episode of Living Hope is dedicated to John LaSalle.  January is Clinical Trials Awareness Month and finding out John was in a clinical trial with an oral chemo that sadly did not help him but helped many pancreatic cancer survivors including myself was a little emotional for me but really brought the importance of clinical trials to a different meaning.