Faith or Fear?

Todd W Franzen

September 15, 2018

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Faith or fear? The choice is yours!

I’ve always been one to let things flow. Time is always been a good way to help deal with stress and sort complicated decisions. Allowing time to pass helps create a way for information to cool down. Being able to approach the situation more informed. In turn, let’s the contemplating and solution building to begin. The faith I’m talking about is an overall faith that good things will happen over time. If you put good work into help people, and have positive energy, overtime you’ll be rewarded for that. I have faith in that!

Here are a few of definitions…

  1. Confidence or trust in a person or thing and
  2. Belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit.
  3. Taking a step into the unknown with the level of risk and uncertainty

I think it’s important to separate faith from religion just for the pure fact that one does not need the other. Now, there are people out there that need to have something to believe in. And that is absolutely cool. That’s why the concept of religion is there. Some people need that structure.

Faith leads you towards hope. And hope is the belief that you will find the desired outcome in the future.

After Cancer…

you are now in a weird state of life. Possibly unsure of the direction you want to go or struggling to understand your purpose. When you are faced with your mortality, it makes you question just about every other aspect of your life up to that moment.

All I knew at the time right before my diagnosis was cancer was a death sentence. That was the end. Death was all that you could look forward to.The stigma of treatment sounded worse off than just dying from the disease. That day that I was officially diagnosed was the heaviest day of my life. I was looking out the window at the Saint Anthony’s Hospital overlooking Sloan lake. My family was around me when the news was delivered. And that’s when I knew had a choice, To live or Die! Faith or Fear!

I chose Faith in Life!

 

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Todd W Franzen


I am a two-time Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor with 17 years of documented cancer survivorship experience that spans multiple treatment eras. My journey began in November 2009 with a Stage 4B diagnosis at age 33, and continued through recurrence and treatment in 2019-2021. This rare longitudinal perspective—living through two complete treatment cycles a decade apart—gives me comparative insight into cancer care evolution that no single medical professional can replicate.

MY TREATMENT EXPERIENCE

First Treatment Cycle (2009-2010)
• 12 infusions of ABVD Chemotherapy over 6 months
• 2 infusions of ICE Chemotherapy (4-day infusions)
• 1 infusion of BEAM Chemotherapy
• 1 Autologous Stem-Cell Transplant
• 8 PET Scans
• 6 CT Scans

Second Treatment Cycle (2019-2021)
• 2 infusions of Brentuximab and Bendamustine
(Severe allergic reaction to Brentuximab — hives)
• 25 rounds of Radiation to Mediastinum (46RAD combined)
• 4 infusions of Keytruda Immunotherapy
• 2 infusions of IGEV Chemotherapy (5-day infusions)
• 1 Total Body Radiation (2RAD)
• 1 Sibling Allogeneic Stem-Cell Transplant
• 6 PET Scans
• 6 CT Scans

COMPARATIVE EXPERTISE

Surviving two stem-cell transplants—one autologous, one sibling allogeneic—across different decades of cancer treatment has given me firsthand experience with nearly every major modality in lymphoma care: combination chemotherapy, salvage chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation protocols, and both types of stem-cell transplantation. I've experienced treatment side effects from the "standard" ABVD era through the modern immunotherapy period.

This comparative expertise matters for survivors. Treatment protocols in 2009 looked very different from 2019, and the long-term survivorship implications are still emerging. Doctors treat; survivors live with the aftermath. I've done both—twice.

CREDENTIALS & PROJECTS

• Founder: Strap In For Life 501(c)(3) nonprofit
• Author: Internal Architect: A Cancer Survivor's Memoir
• Licensed Insurance Agent (practical healthcare system navigation)
• 17-year cancer survivor documenting the journey since 2008

WHAT I WRITE ABOUT

Cancer survivorship doesn't end when treatment stops—it's when the real reconstruction begins. My blog covers:
• Practical survivorship (relationships, careers, identity)
• Treatment experience insights (what they don't tell you)
• Long-term effects and secondary health considerations
• Mental health and emotional reconstruction
• Healthcare system navigation

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