Many cancer survivor stories within the first 100 blogs of this website. However within — this Survivor Story, Ryan Sternagel shares about his son Ryder’s cancer journey.
In May of 2014, about a month before Ryder’s first birthday, Ryder’s mom Teddy noticed a lump in Ryder’s back next to his spine. Their concerns were initially dismissed by their doctor, however, as they were researching online, many sites led them to neuroblastoma – a childhood cancer of the nervous system.
After an ultrasound which led to an MRI, the doctor and nurse came out with tears in their eyes. It turned out that the lump Ryan and Teddy felt was just the tip of the iceberg. The tumor inside of and growing out of Ryder’s spine was larger than his kidneys. There were also two additional tumors that had metastasized in his bones.
From day one, Ryan and Teddy chose to implement as many natural options as possible along with the conventional cancer treatments. The original Quest for the Cures came out two weeks after they received their son’s diagnosis and Ryan attributes much of their initial success with finding answers to having watched this docuseries.
Ryan and Teddy constantly researched and used many alternative cancer treatment modalities including juicing and infrared sauna. By the second scan, Ryder’s secondary tumors were gone and the primary tumor was reduced beyond expectation. Today, the secondary tumors are still gone and the larger tumor is about 5% of what it was and has been flatlined for about a year and a half now.
Click on the video to hear more about Ryder’s cancer experience, including his parent’s continued efforts to inspire other children and provide information to parent’s going through a similar experience.
When Leanne’s son, Drew was sent home to die from the Mayo Clinic when 15 months of intensive treatment failed curing him of his Stage IV Neuroblastoma. Drew, was honestly one of my biggest sources of inspiration when Ryder was first diagnosed with cancer.
After learning about natural therapies (primarily juicing and supplements which Leanne administered through a g-tube) Drew was completely healed within weeks of his death sentence. Miracle? Yes of course…But also the power of natural therapies.
At the time I never knew about the story of Leanne’s older son Jacob who was diagnosed with a terminal heart defect and underwent three open heart surgeries before the age of one. Talk about inspiration…
“With all due respect, I would rather die living than live dying.” -Jacob Sorteberg
From Leanne (Jacob’s mom):
Those words were spoken by our son Jacob, age 20 at the time, after his cardiologist advised him to prolong his life by finding a desk-job career.
This is a story about resilience, advocacy and energy.
Resilience:
Jacob was born with a terminal heart defect called Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return to the Coronary Sinus or “Total Veins” for short. In laymen’s term the 4 pulmonary veins bringing oxygenated blood from the lungs to his heart are slowly clasping.
Jacob underwent 3 open-heart surgeries before he turned 1-year-old. The first surgery was to correct an atrial septal defect, which was a hole in one of the upper chambers of his heart. The next two surgeries were an attempt to create an unobstructed pathway within the four veins for blood to flow to his heart.
Unfortunately both surgeries were unsuccessful. During his second open heart surgery (recovery picture posted here) doctors discovered Jacob had two left lungs and that he was also born without a stomach.
Jacob’s journey from birth to present day is wrought with profound life-lesson. He was hospitalized for the first 3 ½ years of his life. He had a feeding tube and oxygen for his first 5 ½ years. During that time nurses became my sisters, and some doctors became my teachers.
I’ll never forget the first words spoken to me after Jacob was rushed to the university’s neonatal intensive care unit.
“We’ve worked on tons of babies with this heart defect. They never live past the age of one.” –UM Pathologist.
Jacob barely survived that first year. I held him in my arms 3 times as a “Code Blue” ushered a team of medical staff to his bedside. He suffered countless bouts of life-threatening double pneumonia due to blood pooling in his lungs.
Doctors preformed a surgery to create a micro-stomach so we could feed him through a g-tube. Little did we know then how critical that g-tube would become. When Jacob’s younger brother, Drew, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and eventually sent home to die, placing a g-tube in Drew allowed us to bolus feed him organic juices and natural supplements, which cured his cancer in a few short weeks!
Treating Drew’s cancer natural had a significant impact on Jacob’s health. Once we eliminated everything white (i.e. dairy, flour, sugars, etc) from our diet and literally became vegans overnight, Jacob’s health slowly began to improve. First, he went six months without getting double pneumonia. That was a huge milestone!
Then he was finally able to come off oxygen support. Next, his appetite improved so quickly we were able to pull the g-tube so Jacob could eat normally. To this day, Jacob will eat anything you put in front of him. He even tried lobster brains when we lived in Maine. He said they tasted like almonds.
Months of wellness turned into years. Every time we saw Jacob’s cardiologist he would run tests and say with a smile, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but keep doing it.”
Advocacy:
It was 4am. The ringing phone startled me. Murphy’s Law strikes. It was the one time the nurses convinced me to go home to sleep in my own bed. During the night Jacob’s health took a terrible turn for the worse. By the time I arrived at the hospital he was in congestive heart failure.
After alerting us, the hospital called our extended family to explain that he would not make it through the day. They were instructed to come immediately. When I walked into his hospital room my eyes immediately fixed on Jacob. He was heaving with each breath and his skin was a purplish gray. He looked panicked, and rightfully so…. his little heart was beating 180 beats per minute, a condition known as Tachycardia. Two doctors and our primary nurse stood by his bedside. I had grown to love Mary. She took great care of our son, but also took the time to teach me how to be a young mom (age 23 at the time) with a special needs child.
The energy in the room was tense. One doctor was holding a syringe with medication. The three on the medical staff became abruptly silent. I could sense they had been arguing and my suspicion was confirmed when one doctor broke the silence. He gritted his teeth and said to the other doctor holding the syringe, “Just give it to him!”
The reply was, “No. We’ve given him too much. This will push him over the edge.”
With a red face and raising his voice the other doctor replied, “I am your superior.
Give it to me so I can give it to him!” Again, the younger doctor shook his head no in defiance. Suddenly, Mary turned toward me and calmly said, “You have a say in this matter.”
It was one of those ah-ha moments, an epiphany that would shape me as a mother forever. Her words resonated through every fiber of my being.
In that instance, I knew no one could advocate for my child/children better than me and I was determined to become the best advocate ever. I asked both doctors to leave the room. The angry one demanded Mary follow. Left alone, Jacob and I were finally able to snuggle. Tears rolled down his cheeks as I spoke calmly to him.
The energy in the room shifted. I unhooked monitors and rocked him gentle in my arms. His breathing calmed as he laid his head against me. I could hear the yelling in the hallway. Obviously flustered, Mary tucked her head into the room and asked me what I wanted to do.
With confidence I replied, “No more doctors. No more needles. No more drugs.”
Jacob was moved into intensive care. Mary was able to follow with due to a nursing shortage. For the next 12 hours Mary and I were the only ones allowed in his room. Monitors remained on but nearly silenced and lights were dimmed. Jacob slept the entire time. By morning he was stable and my resolve as his advocate was internally secured.
Energy:
Today, If Jake is in poor health he knows now to consider his options with both conventional and alternative/natural healthcare. He doesn’t panic. He researches. He also works to eat healthy and more importantly he works to maintain a positive attitude… a positive energy.
His heart has to work extra hard to bring blood from his lungs. Doctors tell us his heart’s efforts to do so have come at a cost. Jacob is nearly half my age. His heart’s age is much closer to mine. Stress on the heart causes one’s hair to gray prematurely. Jacob’s hair is graying, but his attitude and zest for life shine! He is an avid hiker, camper, fisherman, and canoeing enthusiast. He loves to spend as much time outdoors embracing nature.
Just to get-my-goat, he often sends pictures of him rock climbing, hanging off a tree branch high in the air or balancing on a cliff’s edge. Nature offers a healing and calming energy. Jacob is soaking it all up. More importantly, Jacob is not letting a life-limiting statement become his reality. He has chosen to live life abundantly on his terms.
He has chosen to live a life that brings him joy, harmony and happiness. He has chosen a healing energy. He recognizes he is a product of intelligent design and has a sincere faith and trust in God for his life’s destiny.
The resources for natural healing are endless and priceless for those dealing with disease. Our planet has everything we need to heal and will continue to offer healing herbs, plants foods, as long as we stop destroying it. Often times, the person diagnosed with a deadly illness will need a strong, positive advocate by their side to research and uncover proven natural healing modalities because the mind–fuck of a deadly illness overwhelms the one diagnosed.
Become someone’s advocate. If you are dealing with a deadly disease or are an advocate for someone, I hope Jacob’s story of resilience, advocacy and energy inspires you. Rid your life of negativity. Find your divine power. Also Stand your ground, especially when confronted with egos. Have faith and may you crave a connection with nature’s healing energy. Become an #inspiration 🙂
https://www.amazon.com/Step-Guide-Nutritional-Healing/dp/0966491009 https://www.amazon.com/Your-Child-Doesnt-Have-Die/dp/0965471403
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMt2dHs8E6A