Please pray for Mark...

Mark is a bass player and drummer here at NewCov. He is a great part of the team and a wonderful Christian man. My friend, Mark, went into surgery a few minutes ago. He is undergoing extensive surgery to remove cancer. Here is what his wife, Kathy, wrote on their CaringBridge site about Mark's condition:

Mark is a Radiation Therapist who has been treating cancer patients for the past 15 years. He loves his job and feels it's a wonderful ministry to give hope to others.

Mark and I met 5 years ago on October 31, 2003. We were set up by Kelly Fitzpatrick to go to dinner with a bunch of friends. Yet, the only people there were Mark, Kelly, and Scot. Later I found out it was a planned date without my knowledge. After dating for several months, Josh and Lacey (Kathie's children) started begging me to marry Mark. This begging went on for 6 months. Finally, we married in July 2004.

About 3-4 months ago, Mark's left side started hurting. He told me two months later because he didn't want to frighten me. For the past 4-6 weeks he has been getting tests done to see if there was a problem.

Mark has been diagnosed with Retroperitoneum Sarcoma in his left upper abdomen. His doctor diagnosed this partially to get him in surgery asap. Mark is going into surgery on Thursday, February 19th at 12:00 noon at Fresno Heart Hospital. After meeting the doctor this morning he stated that Mark will undergo major surgery. He feels the cancer is malignant. The mass is extremely large (approx. 9 cm) and involves the left kidney, spleen, pancreas, stomach, large intestine, rib muscles, and is obstructing his bowels. During the surgery the doctor plans to remove the kidney, spleen, approx. 1/3 of the stomach, up to 1/2 of his pancreas, colon (large intestines). He will do a possible transverse/descending colon removal/resection. Because of the extent of the damage, the surgery will be quite long. The doctor said Mark will be in ICU, then transferred to his own room. The hospital stay will be 7-10 days.

4-6 weeks after the surgery he will begin Chemotherapy for approximately 5-6 weeks. The doctor is requesting the maximum dose for Mark because he wants to kill any other cancer cells in his body. At the same time he will also undergo Radiation treatment for 5-6 weeks.

You can keep updated on Mark's progress HERE. You can also post notes of encouragement to Mark, Kathie, and Josh and Lacey.

Thanks for praying.