Amazing Leukemia Survivor Story - Ed Logan!! 🎗
Ed Logan, who I interviewed last Thursday, just celebrated his 5-year "cancerversary" (5 years since his diagnosis) last week!! In re-watching his interview a couple of things really struck a cord with me that I think you'll want to take a look at, besides the fact that soon after his diagnosis he developed sepsis and his heart stopped for 15 minutes, then he was resuscitated and woke up without any of his senses and spent 2 months in bed recovering before he could learn to walk again (and speak, swallow, write and regain his memory)!! One of the things Ed talked about was the timing of his healing process. He has a type A personality and likes to be in control and have a plan and a schedule. Well, there were several roadblocks along the way and he had to learn to wait and be humble. -- Probably much like you and I, when we want healing for ourselves or someone we love and things seem to keep going "wrong." 💔 Maybe it's God's way of slowing us down and giving us opportunities to learn something important that we would have otherwise missed? (At 22:10 in the video Ed talks about one of these instances where he found a painfully frustrating delay to actually be a great blessing of bonding with his brother that he wouldn't have otherwise experienced.)
At 33:35 Ed talks about sharing in suffering with others. His physical and emotional pain kept him up at night but instead of dwelling on his situation he reached out to others to ask them how he could pray for them. It became a great source of comfort as he developed empathy for others going through cancer, was able to share his burdens with them, and grew closer and closer to God. 💗
4:55 How Ed's business experience connects with his cancer story
6:15 How he was diagnosed, what his symptoms were - pain on his spleen and a chill. October 22 was the diagnosis.
Took chemo and started getting side effects. It caused inflammation in his neck and he couldn't breathe; he was intubated and his heart stopped for 15 minutes. He had blood pool in his brain.
Stayed in bed for almost 2 months.
His epiglottis is cut in half and he had a g-tube.
10:20 They resuscitated him after 15 minutes and he couldn't speak because of the intubation. He could only remember his wife's phone number.
He had sepsis; November 15 they didn't know how he got it, and he got pneumonia and retained a lot of fluid. Had to learn how to walk again. He lost his senses and his taste; learn how to speak; memory was affected.
His first step when he learned how to walk, he cried because he thought he wouldn't be able to walk again. He started to write - Christmas. He was in isolation during Thanksgiving. Regained his strength by God's grace when people prayed for him 24 hours in a vigil.
He was moved to a rehab center.
ALL B cell Philadelphia + where the cancer cells multiply twice as much.
He was discharged December 13 to do home physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy.
14:50 His therapist told him to go up 6 floors of steps and he was able to do it, by the grace and to the glory of God!
Swallowing was the hardest. He was very hard on himself. It was especially hard because of his epiglottis. He lost 45 pounds in 3 weeks but gained it little by little. His wife read a lot of healthy information. God provided the right people and opportunities.
His g tube was removed and he was able to continue his therapy at home. He went to Johns Hopkins and they told him he couldn't do the transplant right away because there was so much trauma - he had lost 40 pounds at that time from chemo and radiation. He had 8 lumbar punctures to make sure there was no cancer before the transplant.
18:09 He did his PT at home and used the FitBit to make sure he got 10,000 steps. He had a great support system.
18:50 His doctor was the director of the transplant program at JH. CART and immunotherapy were not available at that time, but umbilical cord was an option at the time. He opted out of it and they asked if he had biological siblings. He was adopted by parents in Sedona Arizona when he was 16 and he was separated from his siblings. His brother in the Philippines was a 1/2 match. They found him and JH said to bring him in. He had to get a Visa, and that added a lot of stress.
21:05 Doctors said there was a chance of being paralyzed from the transplant. They compromised and did a 1/2 stem cell transplant.
His brother was the first to get a Visa at the US Embassy.
22:10 Unexpected blessings in the waiting after another roadblock... Johns Hopkins wanted to re-do all the testing the hospital had done
in the Philippines, and it was frustrating to have to wait again, but it was a beautiful blessing that enabled him to catch up with his brother, who he hadn't seen in decades.
In August it was his birthday and he had the transplant. He was finished in November and he began to experience Graft Versus Host Disease. First was the skin on his back
24:12 He found a young lady who also had it
Second, his eyes were affected with dryness/ hundreds of needles poking his eyes with pain. He used steroids to calm it but he still uses lenses to keep his eyes moist. They used his own blood to make the serum/artificial tears. He uses Restasis typically now today.
26:00 At Thanksgiving he developed 17 sores in his mouth and he lost 10 pounds in less than one week.
27:30 He had neuropathy/tingling sensation and his feet were sweaty but he couldn't feel his feet when he walked so that was scary and difficult to try to keep his balance.
His problem was emotional - his wife encouraged him to do a support group and he tried a men's cancer support group in December 2017 for 4 weeks. A few of them died and it caused him to feel nervous about why he survived. 30 people became 15 then 10 and he decided to take a break. Then he tried a young adult group and he made friends and it helped and he felt emotionally connected; no judgement, he felt at home with them because there was a strong connection. That was a big tool to leverage his emotional acceptance of being part of the cancer community.
30:50 March 2018 he went back to work full-time (in November 2016 he went back to work part-time to maintain his cognition). He would write things down to help him with his memory. In investigation litigation (his work) they don't do emotion so he was encouraged to write down his emotions; prayer/journaling was . When he feels the emotional pain he asks others what he can pray for. When he couldn't sleep at night from the pain, he turned it to listen to people who were struggling and in 2017 a Filipino reporter asked if he could interview him and share his journey with the public. His wife was public. He thanked God for his cancer journey and he knew that it would not be perfect but he experienced more and more closeness to God. Other pain
33:35 In his painful nights, he would reach out to others and ask how he could pray for them. He was able to tell others to be hopeful and . A lot of people prayed for him and saw that he was an instrument of God's love and mercy.
34:50 A friend who prayed for him was diagnosed with cancer and he ended up staying in the same room that Ed stayed in from his transplant. They had never met in person but they had a 1-on-1 and he encouraged him in his faith. Sometimes he said, "God, make all this pain 10,000 so I could be closer to you and at the same time so I can feel the pain of other people more."
The reporter who interviewed him got breast cancer in 2018. He felt like everyone
So she asked him if he wanted to develop this Filipino-American foundation because Filipinos find it shameful to talk about cancer. And in 2020 he launched the Filipino American Foundation.
39:10 What turned around his health? He's a very positive person and he wouldn't waste his journey but would use it to communicate. His personal vulnerability encouraged other men he spoke to share their stories also.
40:30 He had flashbacks/PTSD. Every time he said the letter H he got anxiety from 2016-2018. At the time he wasn't able to communicate because
He woke up at the time when someone came in to give him a blood thinner when he already had blood pooled in his left brain - it would have probably killed him.
"H" he associated with Hospital and sepsis (he's already a clean freak).
Prayers, family, strangers he started to get to know. Because of COVID-19 he's done Zoom meetings. When he can't sleep he will go to a "war room," kneel and write their name and join them in prayer and pain and encourage each other.
43:26 Nutrition was part of his healing journey as well. He was aware of diet - before he would eat a little here and there, but now he's more cautious. He's switched to quinoa from rice and tries not to eat starchy and sugary foods, keeps things in balance more now.
44:30 For exercise he strives for 10,000 steps each day. His joints were attacked and he had no stamina sometimes. After cancer he passed out on the 34th floor in NYC with his family. He had to be his own advocate but they diagnosed him with hypertension/POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) - because of the trauma in his system and that the blood didn't travel to his brain - he passed out.
In 2017 he was told he was cancer-free. He will be on chemo for 10 years total. He is anxious to get off of the chemo pill.
Acupuncture helps him a lot. He was using epsom salts but that was dehydrating him and that exacerbated his POTS. He still has a lot of tingling and he passed out 3 times.
49:15 His doctors said he would have a good chance of recovery because of his complications it was reduced. But he felt his body saying no more - they wanted him to get 12-16 lumbar punctures but he only got 8. They said there were other
He was accepting that he might not be able to walk again. He had to do it for his family, his wife and the people who prayed for him. Survivor's guilt haunts him when he's alone and it's a struggle for him emotionally.
52:00 How to pray for him? 1) There are side effects from the chemo he's taking. 2) Filipino American Cancer Care to help more people who are struggling right now, including the financial toxicity; a transplant is $1/4 million; $10k-15k per month for chemo. An opportunity to listen to them and journey with them.
Filipino American Cancer Care: FilAmCancerCare.org or connect through Bailey.
54:20 Final words of wisdom - life is an acronym: Living In Faith Every Day. This is a temporary place; God has a better place for us, no matter what we are going through here. He's looking to be a faithful servant and bring as many souls into heaven as possible to join our loving Father.
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to him long ago, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you out with kindness.
