Michigan parents Ben and Shelby Offrink are both battling a rare cancer while rearing their two toddlers Maeve, 4, and Hazel, 1.
The young parents were happily building their family when a sudden turn of events brought them the bad news that changed their lives.
After Shelby gave birth to Hazel prematurely, she felt discomfort and pain in her legs. She thought it was just sciatica and visited the doctors, but to her surprise it was worse that what she initially thought. Shelby was diagnosed with Stage IV glioblastoma, Inquisitr reports.
In a report by CNN, Shelby's case was rare because glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor, but in her case, it was lodged in her spine instead of the brain.
Ben knew that the battle his wife was struggling with was too much for her, so he helped her in as much as he can to relieve her. However, Ben was in for another difficult test. While he needed to deal with the welfare of their two daughters and a sick wife, he received yet another terrible news.
Ben had Hodgkins lymphoma in his younger years. He fought it and felt victorious when the cancer was in remission when he was 20 years old. Unfortunately, Ben has received news he least expected to hear: the cancer reappeared for the third time.
Ben said," I thought it was never a concern again, The procedures I went through, having a bone marrow transplant, I thought there wouldn't be any issues. It's been over 15 years. It caught everyone completely off guard," Ben is going through chemotherapy and will go through another bone marrow transplant.
This January, the family received the worst news. Shelby got three tumors, the cancer that retreated from her spine is now on her brain and all three tumors are inoperable. The family is in a complete battle with time. One can onnly imagine the physical pain Ben and Shelby are feeling and the emotional struggle they are going through knowing that they might not see their two daughters when they grow up.
The family is blessed to have a strong support group. They have family and friends who visit them from time to time to check on their kids. Their friends also raised funds for the two girls' education. If the worst is to happen, the two girls will be living with Ben's brother.
However, the couple is determined to overcome their illnesses. Both are willing to take trial drugs for recovery. The young parents are not open to giving up, they do not consider it as an option.
Shelby said, "Never give up, because there's no reason to. Just keep fighting, Especially when you have someone special to fight for and everyone has someone special to fight for -- there's no one who doesn't."
