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Veteran Spotlight: Joseph

November 19, 2020

My name is Joseph and I am a Navy Veteran. My beautiful wife Kimberly had back pain that increased over a year which I would help her massage to relieve nightly. We mistakenly overlooked this as a minor issue until it became unbearable. At that point, we went to the ER. Kim’s diagnosis of stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer, which was sadly overlooked for years by many doctors, was given four days following Christmas in 2015.Our worlds changed. We were only beginning our lives as I was 42 and she was 53, married for six years together. I immediately stood up to become her caretaker and while I learned on the fly, this wasn’t easy for either of us, especially Kim. My wife fought hard until year four when I lost her.I continue to try my best to get through each day, thinking of Kim and what she would do and want me to do. When I have the strength, I try to advocate in her memory to help others. I attended GO2 for Lung Cancer’s Advocacy Summit to help raise awareness and advocate for vital lung cancer research funding. God bless lung cancer patients and caretakers.