Impact Report

Dennis & his dog

Dennis S.

Location: Mandeville, Louisiana, USA

He’s an ex marine wearing a cap, and he’s saying, “Adapt, Improvise, Overcome”. Dennis has colon cancer and he’s not backing down.

In February of 2005 he was diagnosed with cancer after a colonoscopy. He had been experiencing stabbing stomach pains and other troubling symptoms. As a retired fireman, who had also worked as a shrimper, he had no insurance. Two weeks after diagnosis he underwent surgery and had ten inches of colon removed. It was also discovered that the cancer had metastasized to his liver.

The chemotherapy began in March 2005, on a schedule of two to three treatments a week. Dennis was working through all the debilitating side effects when the other shoe fell. Katrina.

A lifelong resident of St. Bernard parish, outside of New Orleans, he had spent his life fishing, hunting and trapping in the wetlands surrounding his home. The sense of community in St. Bernard parish and in particular his town of Violet, has long nourished Dennis and his close-knit family.

They evacuated. His house was inundated. Water was up to the roof - totally ruined. It is now an empty slab. Scrapping together everything he had and borrowing heavily, he relocated to a nearby town, further from the water. It is a very different lifestyle and Dennis makes no bones about his feelings of not fitting in there.

Financially he’s devastated. He can’t work, although his wife does. Her entire paycheck goes toward paying their household expenses with nothing left for food and necessities. Their mortgage payments are twice as much now, because of inflated housing prices and exorbitant home insurance rates. The drive to and from the hospital every week is ninety miles. Their son and daughter help out as much as possible. The stress of Dennis’s illness and all the other hardships has caused his wife to need antidepressants. But Dennis remains defiant. And courageous.

Chaos ruled after Katrina. Dennis‘s treatments were interrupted for two months after the storm. When the treatments were finally resumed they proved to be grueling. As we interviewed him his eyes and nose were running continually, a by-product of his treatment. But he feels that he has the strength to see it all through. For the moment he’s taking a break from treatments to give his body a rest.

Dennis’ cancer treatment has been through Lallie Kemp hospital in Independence, LA. The National Cancer Coalition has provided funding for cancer patients at the hospital. Without these programs Dennis could not continue treatment.

Dennis is tough - a fighter. But his soft side shows through as he interacts with his small white dog, a constant companion, and when he talks about his son and daughter in college and his hard working and caring wife.

He misses his old way of life but he’s not a complainer. He’s moving forward following the Marine’s motto; “adapt, improvise, overcome”.

Hurricane Katrina - Louisiana - NCC Provides