Lisa Blobstein’s story
It has been 10 years since my husband Steve Lisiak lost his incredibly brave battle to colon cancer. He was just 38 with no family history of the disease. We were parents of our then 17-month-old beautiful little boy AJ and we were so looking forward to a beautiful life together.
It started about 4 months after we had AJ. My husband complained that it felt like he had butterflies in his stomach, and I urged him to see a doctor. Being new parents and dealing with some of my father in law’s health issues, we both thought it was stress related. An ulcer or maybe IBS. He went to the doctor and underwent routine blood tests.
The results came back anything but routine.
The Sunday morning of my brother’s wedding, we got a call that he was losing blood from somewhere and there was something seriously wrong. We knew a Sunday call was not a good sign. Soon after, he went for a private colonoscopy and the results would change our lives forever.Stage 4 colon cancer that had already spread to his liver. I immediately called Colorectal Cancer Canada to get as much information as I could to help us with our battle. I really believed he would win it. Frank Pitman was the voice at the other end who helped guide us. We never forgot Frank’s kindness and he continues to be an important presence in AJ and my life.
Steve always loved baseball and was so excited to teach his son the game he loved. Every year (except the last two Covid years) we’ve held a softball game in Steve’s memory with monies raised split between Colorectal Cancer Canada and another organization that was extremely helpful to Steve and I during and after his battle. AJ, now 11, loves the game his daddy loved and even has his great arm. Steve would be thrilled to know that we have raised over $50,000 in the fight against cancer.
The fight is not over. Sadly, so many other young people are diagnosed with colon cancer. I hope that with all the monies raised and more research being done, there will be fewer kids like AJ who lose their daddy to this dreaded disease.
