Looking at Matt Ode today, you would never guess that he spent the past three years battling stage 3 testicular cancer. Treatment was incredibly rough, Ode tells SurvivorNet; he lost 70 pounds, went into a two-week coma, and experienced both kidney and liver failure.
“I was determined to get out of this hospital,” he says. “On March 17, I was released. … I was 115 pounds at the time, from being 185 pounds eight months ago.”
Read More RELATED: Grinding Through Cancer Treatment — Ed Yakacki Shares His Story Ode explains that he knew his journey back to feeling like himself would take some time and patience, but he never doubted that he’d get there. “You need to be patient, but you need to have a purpose in life and just take small actions to get there,” he says. “You will get to where you want to be — you just need to be determined enough and push forward.”
Now that Ode is officially two years cancer free, he says, he’s back in action. He works out six days a week, has gained back all the weight chemo caused him to lose, and he’s planning to run a 5K this summer.
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