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Destiny Remezas

Nick Osifcin celebrated his 21st birthday like most college students. But it was not the normal milestone it is for many young people. It marked an end to his almost yearlong battle with cancer.

The 20 year old was in the middle of his junior year when a growing lump in his neck sent him through a whirlwind of events that landed him in an operating room to remove it.

The Carterville native came to the University to study administration of justice, following in the footsteps of his father, Mike Osifcin, who is a sergeant at the Carbondale police department.

"I've kind of tried to talk him out of this line of work but he seems to have his mind set," Mike Osifcin said.

After about a year of chemotherapy and radiation treatments Osifcin will be returning to the University this fall to finish his degree.

"I never thought I'd want to go back, but right now, I absolutely cannot wait to go back to school," Osifcin said.

When it happened

Osifcin thought nothing of the small swollen area on his neck. He did not even think much of the 30 pounds he lost even though he was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 125 pounds.

"Who would have thought a healthy 20-year-old kid could have cancer," Osifcin said. "I just thought I was sick. I didn't think anything of it."

On Oct. 17, Osifcin was at work at Kroger East in Carbondale when he started to feel shaky while putting up stock. His dad saw him that day and saw the mass on his neck.

"I said we've got to go to the doctor and figure out what this is right way," Mike Osifcin said.

Three days, a CT scan, an X-ray and a surgery later, Osifcin was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Hodgkin's develops within the lymph system of the immune system. The CT Scans and X-rays revealed four separate lymph nodes where cancer had developed. There were two under his right collarbone, one by his neck and one in his chest.

"At that point they tell you there is nothing you can do but what they tell you to do," Mike Osifcin said.

The largest of the cancers was located in his chest and was 10 centimeters by 4.6 centimeters by 5.7 centimeters.

He did not cry right away.

He said it did not sink in until a trip home from St. Louis, where he went to get a second opinion. He said the doctors there were very blunt about what laid ahead.

That was when he broke down.

"Both my wife and I told him that if it was possible to take the cancer from him and give it to one of us, we would," Mike Osifcin said.

Treatment

Osifcin was found to be in stage IIE, because the cancer had spread to the four different lymph nodes. His chemotherapy started in September. Even though each treatment made him sick for about a week, he remained enrolled in his three classes.

"I'd miss a whole week of school at a time," Osifcin said. "It was pretty difficult to concentrate on school work or anything else."

However, the September treatment would be the first out of 12, and every time he went back, the effects of the treatment got worse, he said.

"After the first one I was like, 'this isn't so bad,'" Osifcin said. "The third and fourth one were wearing me down. I was so depressed."

Osifcin received treatment, which took about two hours and required four different medications, every other Monday. After treatment he would stay at his parents' house until the weekend.

"It just compounds on itself every time," Osifcin said. "To fully describe it to where you feel it is impossible."

During the worse part of his treatment, Osifcin started losing his hair, but he said it did not fall off in clumps. It came off every time he showered.

"It was more depressing to watch it slowly fall off, so I just shaved it off," Osifcin said.

Kelcie Green, one of Osifcin's close friends, was around him for most of his chemotherapy.

"He got really quiet and depressed," Green said. "Sometimes he wouldn't even act like himself."

In order to make it through the months of therapy, Osifcin said he had to mentally shut down. Most of the nine months are a blur, he said.

"I'd just sit there and think all night long," Osifcin said. "I couldn't do that because I'd drive myself insane."

He said the treatment made him so ill that not only could he not sleep at night, he was constantly tired and did not want to be around people. However, both his parents and Osifcin never discussed death and refused to be negative about the situation.

"I think we tried to get him to lead the most normal life he could," Mike Osifcin said.

Coping

While receiving chemotherapy, Osifcin said he would try to do as much as he could during the days he felt well, which was about three days out of a two-week period.

He would do anything to get way from it all, he said, including going for random car drives all over Southern Illinois. He would even spend time with his dad at the Carbondale Police Department, where he often went on ride-alongs with police officers.

He said four of his friends shaved their heads so he would not be the only bald one.

In fact, he said it was more the interaction of his family, friends and the people around him, like his nurses, doctors and the police officers, who made him feel the best.

A lot of the time he wanted to be alone, Green said, so she gave him space. However, she said it was also important to keep him surrounded by people, even though he was touchy and angry. "I think he really didn't want to be around people, but I think being with people helped," Green said. Osifcin's father said the family had steps they focused on getting though and tried not to look at the overall picture but focus on the little things. "If you don't take it one step at a time, it makes it a lot more difficult," Mike Osifcin said.

Surviving

Now that the ordeal is over, Osifcin talks about the last year, not with anger or sadness, but how it has become a part of him. He said because of the cancer, he knows he can push himself to accomplish anything and if it returns, he said he will do it all over again.

"It's supposed to be the best time of your life right now, so I'm definitely going to make up for it," Osifcin said.

This weekend he will be going to Las Vegas with his family to celebrate his birthday and an end to the what happened in previous months.

How things would have been different if he would have gone to the doctor when he first noticed the problem instead of blowing it off will be something he will never know, he said.

"It's my story, but also a message for people to be a little more aware of yourself," Osifcin said.

After seeing his son fight cancer, Mike Osifcin said he does not mind it now if his son wants to follow in his footsteps, considering the alternative could have been him not being around at all.

When he looks back at it all, Mike Osifcin said he was surprised at how well his son handled all the treatments and still continued to live his life.

"I kind of wonder if I'd be the same way," Mike Osifcin said.

Reporter Destiny Remezas can be reached at destiny__remezas@dailyegyptian.com