My name is Ken Wheatley and I live in San Diego, California. I’m a veteran and served as a Vietnam-era non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the Air Force. I worked inertial guidance, forward-looking radar, and bombing computer systems on F-4 jets.

Sheila and I dated for several years and got engaged in Montreal in June 2007. In December 2007, we were heading to Egypt and Jordan on vacation. A week or so before our trip she went to urgent care to have them look at her left calf because it had been bothering her for several days. They discovered a blood clot, but weren’t concerned because it was below the knee. Before Sheila left the center, she happened to mention where we were going the next week and, as a precaution, to be sure she didn’t have any clots in her lung, they took a chest x-ray. That’s when they discovered the 4 cm mass.

Given that Sheila never smoked and didn’t fit the profile of someone who could have lung cancer, they told us that it was most likely pneumonia and gave her drugs to treat that. Even though they encouraged us not to take the trip, Sheila was determined to go. While were in Egypt she got ill and we had to go to a doctor there. He found clots in her chest.

Sheila-color-photo

When we returned from the trip, we went back in for more testing. In January 2008, Sheila was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to her spine, stomach, and lymph nodes. She was given 9 months to live.

We got married anyway on June 22, 2008. She was too ill to go on our honeymoon to New Zealand. Sheila had to sell her business which had 18 employees and 400 clients. She passed away 15 months after we got married.

A few months before Sheila passed away, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. I delayed treatment until after Sheila passed away in September 2009 and between the cancer, and contracting H1N1, it took a couple of years for me to recover, physically.

Once I recovered, I became an advocate. As cliché as it is, I figured there had to be a reason I was spared and Sheila wasn’t. So, I started out as the co-chair for the California chapter of Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA), traveled to the LCA National Advocacy Summit in 2012 and several other years to speak with members of Congress about research funding, took on the task of getting lung cancer included in the 5 year California Cancer Plan with the California Department of Public Health and the CDC. I ended up chairing the committee that wrote that portion of the plan. I was a member of the National Advisory Council with Lung Cancer Alliance and when it became the GO2 for Lung Cancer, I was asked to be part of the National Ambassador Council, where I’m currently serving.