1st responder needs response from the community

“Buy an RV” is at the top of Joliet police officer Joe Hernandez’s bucket list.

Because that way he can see every zoo in the U.S. with his three young sons before he dies.

But Joe’s wife Anna Hernandez isn’t certain how they can afford an RV, not when Joe is only currently receiving half of his income. Anna can’t work due to Sjogren’s syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis, which she’s battled for nine years.

“I had to put my own health on hold,” Anna said. “My kids needed me and then my husband needed me.”

Still, when Joe first went to the emergency department in June 2020 with stomach pain, he never dreamed it was the first step toward a diagnosis of terminal cancer, especially since the ER could find nothing wrong, Anna said.

Then Joe’s primary care doctor ran some bloodwork, which suggested nothing except, maybe, slight dehydration, which was blamed on the night shift. Anna said. But Joe was an overnight driver for a dairy company for five years before working nights at the Joliet Police Department, so Anna felt he was used to the shift, she said.

A neurologist ordered an MRI when the headaches started; a second reading showed the tumor in Joe’s esophagus, which a gastroenterologist had already found, Anna said.

“This is the reality of our lives,” Anna said. “And we have no idea how we got there.”

Mayo Clinic says risk factors for esophageal cancer include gastroesophageal reflux disease, smoking, obesity, drinking alcohol and poor diet. But Joe never had heartburn, ate well and was fit, and did not smoke or drink, Anna said.

Esophageal cancer is also very rate in people younger than 50, according to the Cancer Network. Joe was 34 when his symptoms began, she said.

Anna said he went through chemotherapy and radiation soon after his diagnosis and a very large tumor, along with three-fourths of Joe’s esophagus and part of Joe’s stomach, was removed in December 2020.

Six weeks later, Joe’s feeding tube came out, and he should have been well on his way to recovery. In fact, Joe was planning to return to work in May, Anna said. But Joe’s health did not improve. He continued vomiting and losing weight - from 220 pounds to 120 - and numerous specialists and tests didn’t point to a cause, Anna said.

“I have watched him melt away every single day,” Anna said. “My husband is dying in front of me.”

Finally one doctor put the feeding tube back in, performed another test and found the trouble: Joe’s stomach lining was filled with cancer.

“There are no surgeries for that,” Anna said. “It’s terminal.”

Anna said Joe is not a candidate for any clinical trials due to the type of cancer cells he has. Joe’s only treatment is chemotherapy, which he is receiving, in the hopes of prolonging his life since doctors can’t save it.

“Because our family cannot function without him,” Anna said.

How is Joe handling the news?

“He’s terrified,” Anna said. “It’s very challenging to be told that you have cancer at 35 years old, that you won’t see your kids graduate from high school or be at their wedding and not know what your grandchildren will look like. Joe is a very involved family man.”

Anna said Joe never missed one of her ultrasounds when she was expecting their sons, even when she had weekly ultrasounds due to her health conditions and even if Joe had just come off the night shift and had only two hours of sleep.

“I know how much our kids look up to him,” Anna said. “He is the glue to our family. And now my kids won’t have that…this is a true nightmare. We are heartbroken. We are angry. We are filled with so much sadness. There are really no words to describe what we have been through this year.”

Anna said their oldest son Ayden, 12, does understand his father has cancer and will die. Anna said her their other two sons Giovanni, 6 and Lincoln, 4, realize it, too, “because they see their father every day throwing up, being on the feeding machine, not doing the things he used to do with them.”

Joe used to take them fishing and swim with them in the pool. Joe played basketball and rode bikes with them. They went on little adventures near ponds because “my kids are in love with bugs,” Anna said.

Also, Joe is “very into reptiles” and taught the boys about snakes and tortoises (they have two small tortoises at home), Anna said.

Despite everything, the kids have hope, Anna said. The kids are praying for a miracle, she said.

In honor of that, Anna held a balloon release for Joe’s 36th birthday earlier in August.

“When we get back from chemotherapy every other week, my middle son Giovanni, always open Joe’s door and asks, ‘Dad are you better now?’” Anna said. “Because they are waiting for him.”

Donate to “Joe’s Journey from Cop to Cancer” at gofund.me/ecc72848.