Knopp Family Story

The Travis Knopp Family

In May 1986 our 12-year-old son Travis was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a medulloblastoma. He was diagnosed on a Friday and within 3 days he went from being a beautiful, fun-loving boy to lying in a hospital in an induced coma, unable to respond.

Two days after the brain tumor was removed, Travis suffered a severe stroke. He was unable to walk, talk or do anything. Our worst fears soon became reality. The pathology report came back as cancer. We were told his prognosis was very grim. The doctors were honest with us and explained that he was unexpected to live. We were told by our doctors to “go home and prepare for the inevitable”. But, he was our child. How can a parent give up on their child? While there was any shred of hope, we clung to it. We vowed to do all we could to help him. We prayed and many, many people prayed for us. The battle of our life was about to begin.

Travis was in Hershey Medical Center for 6 weeks after the original diagnosis and surgery. He then was transferred to Elizabethtown Rehab Hospital for several more months before becoming stable enough to come home. He had to basically “start over” in life. He had to learn how to walk, talk, write, feed himself, dress himself, basically had to relearn everything.

When he regained his strength and the doctors felt he was stable enough, the next battle began. Travis was scheduled to begin chemo and radiation therapy. This was a real struggle for him. The radiation made him very weak and tired; and due to becoming extremely sick from the chemo and being unable to eat very much, Travis’s weight began dropping. He went down to 50 pounds. The doctors told us if he did not improve, the prognosis, again, was extremely poor. He had to have surgery to have a feeding tube inserted, which was his only chance of survival. Even after all of this, we still did not give up hope.

Several years passed by. These were years of chemo, radiation, physical therapy, occupational and speech therapy, more surgeries and many hospital stays; but, with all of this, we were finally beginning to see progress. His weight was starting to go up and he was beginning to show signs of improvement.

After a 7 year battle our son was cautiously felt to be in remission. He was deemed a “miracle” by his doctors.

Travis struggled through those years to pick up the pieces of the life that had passed him by. Now he was able to start leading a more normal life, a life very different from the one we had become so accustomed to; one that consisted of hospitals, doctors, drugs, tests, therapy, etc. He was able to graduate from high school, which was a real accomplishment for him. He learned how to drive, bought a car, got a job and even had a girlfriend. We were so thankful. God was restoring to him all those years he had lost.

Travis’ story was not over, however. It was about to take an unexpected turn. In the summer of 2001, we received a call from his work. We were told that Travis had fallen and was unable to get up. We rushed to his work and then to the doctor. From there he was taken to the ER at Hershey Medical Center. After blood work, tests and CAT scans, the doctors informed us that Travis had another brain tumor, a glioblastoma multiforme. Devastated, we returned home again to face the biggest challenge of our lives. The doctors explained to us that with more surgery, radiation and chemo he could possibly live a year, at most. Once again, we vowed to fight and not give up hope. God had done a miracle before and he could do it again. We earnestly prayed and many, many people prayed for us. However, God chose to answer our prayers in a different way this time.

In the year that followed we saw a change in our son. His personality was changing. He became so loving and caring. He told us he loved us all the time. Travis realized that he may not have long to live and desperately wanted to make a difference in the world with what little time he had left. But, what could he do with all the challenges he was facing himself? At first he began going with his father to visit some of the shut-ins from our church to try to encourage them. Then, one Sunday at church it was announced that there was a new ministry being started. One where people from the church would go out and feed the homeless every Sunday afternoon in our city. There was something he could do. He volunteered and helped to hand out food. Soon, however, due to having seizures, weakness and finally paralysis on one side, he was unable to continue. He was saddened by this; however, he did not give up.

One morning, when I was helping him get dressed, he said to me, “Mom, is there such a thing as a card ministry?” I said “I think so”. Maybe that is something I could do. And so his card ministry began. We bought boxes and boxes of cards and every day he sent cards to every person he could think of. He sent cards to people on our prayer list at church, friends, family, neighbors, and other patients he had met at the hospital. As he became weaker, we helped him sign his name and addressed the cards for him.

As time went by, his seizures became more frequent and his weakness was progressing. Each day was a struggle. He could no longer walk without much help and he could not go up stairs. We began to sense that time was growing short. By the beginning of July 2002 he had had another brain surgery and was sent to recover in a rehab hospital. This time, though, his recovery was not meant to be.

On July 25, 2002, at the age of 28, Travis’s long journey through this life came to an end. It was so difficult to say goodbye; but, we knew that God knows how much suffering a person can handle and he was being merciful by freeing him from all his struggles. Travis was finally at peace and all of his suffering had ended. The healing that we had prayed so hard for had finally come, maybe not here on this earth, but Travis was now whole again in Heaven.

From this experience we learned so many lessons.

1. Being diagnosed with cancer it not the end of your life. It is just the beginning of a new journey that will take you down a different path in life than you had expected to go. We also learned that cancer cannot defeat you. It is a battle; but, if you fight it with the right attitude, you can grow in so many ways and learn so many lessons that you would never have learned otherwise. I think this is best stated by the following: Cancer is so limited. It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot take away peace. It cannot destroy confidence. It cannot kill friendship. It cannot shut out memories. It cannot silence courage. It cannot invade the soul. It cannot conquer your spirit. It cannot steal eternal life.
2. Cancer is not just a disease. It is a total lifestyle change. It not only affects you, but also your entire family. Your life now revolves around hospitals, treatments, doctors etc.
3. We learned to be thankful. Even through our struggles we could always find something to be thankful for. We could be thankful for a good report from the doctor, for not getting sick from the chemo this time, for friends and family who supported us, etc. We were also especially thankful for Four Diamonds. As anyone who has cancer knows, the expenses involved in cancer treatment are tremendous. Travis’s first surgery, back in 1986, cost $60,000. Can you imagine, with the rising medical expenses, what that surgery would have cost today? Without help from Four Diamonds, we could not have afforded to give our son the excellent care that he received. We are also extremely thankful for each of the people who have helped to raise funds for such a worthy cause as this. We deeply appreciate your sacrifice and all the hard work you did to help others who are less fortunate than you. You are a real blessing! The main thing that a person wants, who has lost a loved one, is to know that their loved one is not forgotten. Because of the compassionate way you honor those who have lost their battle to cancer, we can be assured that our loved one’s memories will live on. For that we are extremely grateful.
4. Going through this experience has given us a real compassion for others going through similar problems. Who can better say they understand what a person is going through than someone who has been in the same situation.
5. We also learned that everyone has struggles. Maybe they don’t have cancer, but everyone has something. I think God has put us here on earth to help and encourage each other in our journey through life. We were so amazed at the outpouring of help and support that we received when our son was sick. We now have a desire to reach out and help to encourage others in the way they supported us in our time of need. We found out there is so much you can do to help others. You could send a card of encouragement to someone who is sick, tell someone you love them, give a compliment, do a kind deed and expect nothing in return or forgive someone who has hurt you. The possibilities are endless. Maybe all you can do is give someone a friendly smile. I once read a quote that said “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours”. You never know, that smile you gave could really make a difference to someone who is hurting. Just think how much better the world would be if we all lived by the following words of William Penn. 

6. “I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.”

7. Finally, the most important lesson we learned is that life is short. Time goes by so fast. Our children grow up too quickly. Spend time with people you care about while you can. Don’t forget to tell people you love them. They need to hear you say it. They may not be here tomorrow.

Life is too short.
Don’t waste a minute.
Enjoy each day and everyone in it.
Tomorrow will come.
It could be your last.
Make the most of today.
Life passes too fast!