An army veteran dad completes 176,200 pushups to raise awareness about his rare cancer type. He specifically chose that number because it is the number of people diagnosed with the same cancer he has.
Best way to inform others about the rare disease
Late last year, doctors diagnosed Nathan Tirey with chronic lymphocytic lymphoma. He has done an average of 484 pushups every day since 2020 has started as he battles blood cancer. He believes it is the perfect way to honor patients with the same condition and inform the public of the rare form of cancer.
The Ohio State University, Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute, shared Tirey's goal. To raise awareness about the illness, the dad-of-two does the pushups to drive home the number of people affected by the rare disease.
He said that he is not going to let the cancer change who he is. He noted that he would put one foot in front of the other to fight the illness every day and said that the pushups symbolize it. He is participating in the clinical trial by Ohio State University.
Usually, people with CLL will have enlarged lymph nodes, fever, fatigue, and upper abdomen pain, according to Mayo Clinic. Those patients also have weight loss, night sweats, and frequent urination.
Uploads video clips of the exercise
The 41-year-old dad started the challenge, then he uploaded videos on the YouTube channel, "Pushing Through Cancer." He told OSUCCC-James that it is not something where he is splicing a bunch of video clips together.
He said that he wants to be authentic by showing the real struggle of cancer treatments. The oncologist responsible for Tirey's treatment, Dr. Jennifer Woyach, explained what her patient goes through. She said that while Ibrutinib shows promising results, she noted that there are also cons.
According to the hospital, Dr. Woyach said that the drug is very effective, as they have seen in previous studies. But she also noted that apart from being pricey, the drug could also produce uncomfortable side effects.
Wants patients to go back to normal lives
Dr. Woyach added that it is amazing that they can tell their patients that they are finding something to help them with their illness. She also noted that they are looking for something to help their patients get back to living their normal lives.
Dr. Woyach explained that they want their patients to go back to work or babysit their grandchildren or take a vacation they have been planning to do.
Tirey did his last 150 pushups earlier this month to complete his goal. He also had his two children finish the same workout beside him in his videos. He told the hospital about his hopes that others could find strength in his videos. The veteran dad believes that exercise would always make you feel better even during tough days.
