Griffin May

April 29, 2013

Jamm 425
Vicki Rishling
Word count: 1,660
Overcoming Odds
The 19-year-old student struggles to find motivation in school. His grades are dropping.
Hes tired all of the time. Hes constantly plagued by sickness. But why?
Nate Rench is from Sandpoint, Idaho. He stands 5 feet 10 inches tall with a golden curly
mop looking haircut. Rench has a charismatic personality that touches nearly everyone he meets.
Hes the type of guy whos not afraid to be himself. And quite frankly, hes a nerd. But you
wouldnt guess that when first meeting him. Ask Rench about mythical creatures and hell give
you a list of his top five favorite mythical beasts. Hell name off things you didnt even know
existed in any fantasy land. Ask him about Lord of The Rings and hell tell you the tiniest details
only the biggest geeks would know. But, Rench is also an outdoorsman. Hunting trumps the
nerdy world that sometimes consumes Renchs life. Fishing and hunting is what really gets
Rench excited. Hell jump at any chance he gets to go out into the wilderness for some fun.
Whether its catching fish out on PendOreille Lake or shooting some clay pigeons in the
backwoods of Idaho, Rench loves anything to do with being outdoors.
When all of Renchs many activities started to affect his schoolwork and stamina he
knew something was wrong. After an academically terrible fall semester, Rench returned back
home to Sandpoint for a much needed Christmas break. There, his mother realized there was
something wrong. He didnt have the energy he usually did. She urged Rench to go to the
hospital but he refused.
When he returned back to school for the following spring semester the sickness and
tiredness continued. Finally, Rench decided he needed to be looked at. His sister, Nicole,
accompanied him to Gritman Medical Center in Moscow, Idaho.
His original thought was that he had strep throat. But, Dr. Sunday Henry diagnosed
Renchs problem as something significantly worse.
After a chest x-ray was done, Dr. Henry confirmed that Rench had a tumor roughly the
size of a baseball growing near the left side of his chest.
Rench and Sister Nicole were in disbelief. At 19-years-old how could this be possible?
I remember making Nicole call our parents to break the news. I was so distraught that I
couldnt build up the courage to tell my parents, said Rench.
Dr. Henry instantly grew a liking for Rench. His charismatic personality had touched her.
Dr. Henry couldnt confirm if the tumor was cancerous but she promised Rench she would do
everything possible to find out.
She warned Rench of the many possibilities that come with finding a tumor near the
lungs. Lung tumors commonly spread to the brain and then to the bone. She told Rench that if it
was cancer, it could have found its way too many parts of his body already. This is a process
called metastasis. Essentially, metastasis is the spreading of cancer from one organ of the body to
another. Dr. Henry explained that metastasis occurs in stages. Stage one being that the cancer
has only affected one organ of the body. Stage two, the cancer affects other nearby organs. Stage
three, the cancer affects the bodys lymph nodes and begins to spread through the bodys blood
system. And stage four, is full metastasis in which the cancer has traveled to a distant organ and
infected it with cancer. She hoped that if it was cancer that it would be in one of the earlier
stages. She told Rench that if the cancer had metastasized to another organ in his body that the
best possible cancer to cure would be testicular.
Dr. Henry dug deep into her medical background to find someone that could diagnose
Rench properly. She found a nearby urologist named Nate Canning who worked at Pullman
Regional Hospital just 10 miles away. Urologists specialize in medical diseases found in the
male and female urinary tract system and male reproductive organs.
On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Dr. Canning confirmed Rench had stage four testicular
cancer.
Rench remembers this as the day he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and the day
President Obama was inaugurated. Hes held a grudge against the President ever since.
The diagnosis revealed that this type of cancer was aggressive, but would die off fast if
treated properly. The next day, Rench was put into immediate surgery. Surgeons made an
incision below Renchs belly button and removed his right testicle from there.
Prompt surgery is needed when it comes to testicular cancer. In stage one cases, if
handled immediately, the cancer has nearly a 100 percent survival rate.
Rench spent a day in Pullman Regional Hospital recovering and was then moved back
home to Sandpoint where he would start chemotherapy.
The chemotherapy sessions would last seven months. Seven whole months, Monday
through Friday, for eight hours a day. He was given three types of chemo medicine each day.
First, a round of bleomycin, then a dose of etoposide, and finally cisplatin. The medicine was
inserted into Renchs body through a port in his chest that lead straight to the heart.
Rench remembers the gruesome process of chemotherapy vividly.
I thought that the chemotherapy would flush the tumor and cancer out by going to the
bathroom. Nope, the chemo basically makes you throw up everything. I remember literally
throwing up massive chunks of blood. It was horrible, Rench said.
Rench remembers dealing with the pain pretty well. Doctors still recommended
something called a fetanyl patch. A pain killer patch that is 100 times more potent than
morphine. Rench jokes now about how loopy he was during the whole chemotherapy because of
the fetanyl patch.
Rench met another testicular cancer patient named Terrence Finerty at these
chemotherapy sessions. The two sat through the process of chemo together nearly every day.
We were buddies, we would talk about lots of stuff like hunting and just life in general.
It was nice to have someone going through the same exact horrible process as you, said Finerty.
Rench remembers Finertys full name and his exact date of birth. Every day before
receiving the medicine patients had to state their date of birth and full name.
Seven, twenty six, seventy six, Terrence Michael Finerty.
Three, thirty, eighty-nine, Nathaniel Daniel Rench.
Nearly every day for seven months chemotherapy session began with that. The two still
run into each other every now and then in Sandpoint. And when they do, they always bring up
their date of birth as a second name almost during the sessions. A kind of unique bond that they
will always share.
During the chemo process Rench received tons of support in his battle against testicular
cancer. The Greek community at University of Idaho set up a jean drive fundraiser to help the
expenses of surgery and therapy. His fraternity created a relay for life team dedicated to him.
Sororities would send him hand crafted blankets with books to read while recovering. All of
these things encouraged Rench to fight the cancer.
After chemo, Rench returned to school in the spring of 2010. Things were beginning to
fall back into place and return to normal. Then, the swine flu broke out and Rench caught the
nasty bug which returned him to the weakened state he was in before being diagnosed.
During a routine monthly check-up Dr. Henry told Rench that the same cancer had
returned.
The cancer had come back stronger and more deadly than before. This time Dr. Henry
recommended that Rench seek the best possible help. She told the family to seek out a man
named Dr. Lawrence Einhorn. Famously known for developing the testicular cancer medical
treatment that increased survival rate from 10 percent to 95 percent in stage one patients. The
treatment has saved over 100,000 lives. Dr. Einhorn is also famous for leading the medical team
that treated and saved Lance Armstrongs life in 1996.
Without hesitation the Rench family got in contact with Dr. Einhorn and flew to the
Indiana University School of Medicine where Dr. Einhorn worked. There, Rench was told by Dr.
Einhorn that complete removal of the tumor was necessary and that it could be done
successfully. But, the surgery would be more severe than the last. Still, it had to be done.
The surgery targeted the tumor near Renchs left lung. An excisional biopsy was
performed to take out the tumor.
Rench was bed bound for 13 days after the surgery. During this time he was hooked up to
eight different tubes that pumped in various liquids to help the recovery process. The tubes were
placed all over his body, one in his neck, one in each arm, one on the left side of his chest, one in
his spine, one for IV, and a catheter. Scars remain in all of these places including a six inch scar
underneath Renchs left armpit where the tumor was removed.
A rigorous three month physical therapy session followed. For several months Rench had
no dexterity in his left hand. He also had trouble with what he calls the T-Rex arm, a common
side effect of chest surgery where your arm instinctly curls up to protect where the incision was
made.
After hard therapy work he can now fully move and control his left hand and there is no
more T-Rex arm to deal with.
Rench returned to school once again in the fall of 2010. And for the past three years
every routine check-up has been 100 percent cancer free. Hes returned to being the nerd and
outdoorsman that all of his friends know and love.
Sure, I was scared that cancer would take my life. But I dont think it changed me all
that much. If anything its taught me to live life to the fullest, Rench said
After a six year battle with testicular cancer and school, Nathaniel Rench is set to
graduate in the spring of 2013 with a major in Business Economics.