June 18th, 2015… The day is vivid in our minds. Dad called, as he did every day to shoot the breeze, speak about sports, work, the kids. But this call was different- he requested a conference call with both of us. A conference call didn’t happen often and immediately we knew it was something serious. Dad started talking with a little nervousness in his voice, unlike the strong, confident one we always heard. He tried to keep it light. “I was going in for my six month prostate exam and received the news that my blood work did not look good. After a retest, scan and visit to an oncologist, the doctors determined I have cancer.” Needless to say, we were shocked and devastated especially since his annual check up and blood work six months prior were normal. Our questions to dad were endless– “What kind? Where is it?” etc. His reply was even more devastating… “It’s all over -back, stomach, lungs.” The rest of our conversation was filled with tears and promises to each other that dad would kick the sh-t out of this cancer and fight his ass off.
During the next several months biweekly and weekly visits to Sloan Kettering began. We learned that dad had an aggressive unknown form of metastatic cancer called Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP). Through our research, doctor visits, phone conversations with other doctors and researchers around the country, what makes CUP so difficult to treat is that it has already spread beyond the site where it started. Treatment was truly a guessing game. In our minds, although we never discussed it, it became painfully clear that dad had nine to twelve months to live. Over the course of the next 15 months he underwent six different chemotherapy treatments, radiation, biopsies and immunotherapy. Nothing worked. Throughout it all dad was so brave and upbeat and fought to the end. On October 13, 2016 dad passed away.
We are starting this charity in memory of our dad, Howie Arons, aka Big H. The goal is to prevent sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, family members from getting the same call that we got from our dad (which also happens to be the same call he got from his dad at the same age). Obviously we would love to cure cancer, but in reality our view is that if we could detect/catch it while it is in its early stages before it spreads, we can save lives.
That is our goal… That is our mission.
~ The Arons Family