A Second Chance – Miracle of Travis Ristig
I want to share with you an amazing story about a young man who nearly lost his life several times and yet today stands taller than most because of his battle and will to live. It all began late one chilly night in October at a fine dining establishment where he worked. He felt a pop in his back as he was walking down the stairs to the wine cellar. Two weeks later the pain had increased significantly enough to disable him from any future work.
This was only the beginning of his troubles. After three separate misdiagnoses from different doctors, a crisis brought the answer. For the second time in one week, he was rushed to the emergency room. This time he got the answers he needed. The doctor who saw him was astounded he had been prescribed fifteen to eighteen thousand ml of Vicodin daily for pain relief and quickly ordered a blood test. Finally, he understood why he had been unable to walk for the past three days. He had leukemia and a tumor growing on his spine was gradually paralyzing him. Later, doctors revealed that he was only two days away from complete and permanent paralysis.
To counter the cancers rapid spread throughout his body, doctors immediately began a series of chemotherapy treatments. The unfortunate consequence of this treatment, however, was septic shock. He began to bleed to death in two separate areas of his large intestine. Doctors faced a serious dilemma. If they did nothing, he would surely die and if they operated, his chances of surviving were only five percent. Nevertheless, Dr Coustoufides faced the challenge head on and decided to remove all of his large intestine (six feet in all), winning against the odds and saving his patient. This is just one part of the miracle of Travis Ristig!
Shortly after surgery he experienced three Code Blues, which is a medical emergency in which a team of medical personnel work to revive an individual in cardiac arrest. The cancer needed to be addressed as well as the tumor resting on his spine, so they gave him additional doses of radiation and chemotherapy. Again causing problems, this ultimately put him in ICU (intensive care unit) for a staggering 6 weeks! The average stay is 2 days. Slipping into a coma for eight days really put his family over the breaking point. With The Man upstairs looking after him he yet again beat the odds coming out of the coma on the eighth day. This in part contributes to the miracle of Travis Ristig!
Only three months later, Travis went into full remission and was released from hospital. Unfortunately, his battle was not over with the cancer returning only nine months later. When cancer returns, the patients prognosis is not good with survival rates halved at best. As a last resort, his doctors agreed to provide a bone marrow transplant even though the survival rates were likely to be in the lower range of fifteen to nineteen percent. Yet, Mr Ristig persevered and did not give up the battle for his life despite the challenges he had already faced.
Everything was against him. Not only are his survival prospects low, they are further lowered because hes unable to find a bone marrow match and must accept a transplant only fifty percent as effective. Despite all of this, he persevered through these difficult times, ultimately surviving with a wonderful attitude.
Believe it as it has come to be, adding in part to the miracle of Travis Ristig, the bone-marrow transplant was a success and he has made a complete recovery. Despite all the challenges and low percentages given by teams of doctors he has persevered through so much and yet has only begun. Three years later after regaining complete physical challenges and mental obstacles (from mass doses of chemo) he has conquered entrepreneurship through online marketing, a feat in and of itself (97% of online marketers fail)! He is extremely successful as a team leader earning over $240,000 in his first year alone.
I know I have only covered the large topics in reference to Travis battles, but understand things like learning how to walk again due to muscle atrophy from being bed ridden months at a time, are many of the little hurdles that go without mentioning. I want to personally thank Travis and his family for allowing me to interview him and learning what it is like to face death on a regular basis. The miracle of Travis Ristig is a true inspiration for those who face insurmountable odds in anything they are up against. If he can do it you can too. Should you want to contact him you may, just click the links below and you can reach his website which has his blog, Facebook, ect. with all the contact information.