The Life, Death & Resurrection of Mark Anderson

[GehrigFan]

Well... I realize this is a strange thread, but I know I have a lot of friends on here who have not heard or seen ANYTHING about me since the first month of the year. I am not kidding when I say I can write a 1000-page book about this year, so here is the EXTREMELY short version...

For those who do not know me, I am 45 years old, opened my first card store when I was 18, and since 1997 have worked for:

* James Spence Authentication (Still there as inactive but likely to never work again) - 2015 to present

* Heritage Auctions (Focused on sports memorabilia) - 2014-15

* COMC.com (Focused on helping owner Tim Getsch with growing the company but commuting from Dallas to Seattle was a bit much!) - 2013

* Beckett (Started as Price Analyst, Writer, first person to join BGS/BVG, ended as co-leader of entire office) - 1997-2013




SUPER SHORT VERSION OF MY LAST 9.5 MONTHS:

• I went to a regular neurologist appointment the third week of January and one week later went back for a follow-up. That day, January 31st, they asked me to go to the ER for a quick CT scan of something they didn’t think was a big issue. Well, the one day scan turned into 2+ months in the hospital trying to figure out the problem. Basically, they were supposed to do brain MRI’s with and without contrast, but forgot to do the contrast version.

• By March, I had become paralyzed on my entire right side. They put me on a different hospital floor and were just supposed to feed me for a night and March 3rd would try to figure me out again. The only rules were to guard what I ate and have a nurse watch while I ate. My wife went home to get something, and when she got back, they had ignored both rules and I was surrounded by 12 doctors. When my wife came back, they called her in and said she needed to say goodbye to me as I had died from the food intake. She went ballistic on them, so they tried some more things and brought me back to life. For the next moth I was on tubes and medications to keep me from remembering anything but I did come back "to life".

• Finally, at the start of April I was awake again and my wife and I told them to send me to their other hospital (UTSW - Clements) to have them try to determine my problem. They finally agreed, and the first day I was there they determined I had brain cancer. Turns out, it is the contrast version of the brain MRI that tells them if you have brain cancer so they could have known over two months prior. For the next 7 months, I was still stuck in both hospitals for 26 rounds of chemotherapy (9 different types) plus three hospices to short-term heal from the chemo. I finally had the last round lasting three weeks in September and was allowed to leave a week ago.

• Most chemo sessions were okay, except #18, and then the last round was amazingly horrid. While every day was spent trying to heal and re-grow (couldn’t even sit up, much less stand or walk, etc.), my first thought of the final therapy was how easy it seemed. But seven days after the last chemo, I suddenly had 5-6 horrible problems pop up (mouth unable to move or eat, passing out while practicing walking, losing 100% of my hair in about a 15 minute period, etc). They tested them all and said they were NOT the things they feared could happen – just common issues from that chemo, and they healed in 7-10 days... well, except the hair. People say I look like Paul Schaffer now!

• Unfortunately, the last week has been the worst yet. They still say it should heal in a couple months, but literally, the pain and lack of ANY strength to do ANYTHING has me praying God might take me home. But I hope it heals and I can start investing into my daughter and wife again soon.

Again, there are thousands of things I could add to this, but I know it would bore you. I also will say that at the end of August, God finally reached a 100% point in my life where I know beyond a doubt that I am okay if he takes me in 3 months, 3 years, or 30 years.


I will soon be posting some questions and very poor original artwork on my thoughts for a website to sell my card collection. Although I never wanted to sell, at this point it is a necessity to provide for my amazing wife and sweet 5-year-old daughter.

Mark