For most of his life, Mike Aronson has trained to fight. ARONSON started noticing pain in his lower back about three months ago. THERE ARE plenty of positive vibes. ARONSON also has heard from others afflicted by cancer, a process he describes both as inspiring and humbling.
As a Marine, he trained to fight the enemy.
Then, for the past 20 years he trained to fight fires, and now crime with Iola’s fire and police departments.
And there were Aronson’s other outlets, such as working part time as a bodyguard for the Atlanta-based rap group Ying Yang Twins, and his regular sparring sessions with mixed martial arts and kickboxing partners in recent months.
“But to get told this, it’s probably the hardest left hook I’ve ever taken,” said Aronson, who was diagnosed in March with testicular cancer.
Aronson has undergone two surgeries since March 24, and is scheduled to begin a six-week chemotherapy stint on Monday.
“This is the biggest fight I’ve ever been in,” Aronson, 44, said. “The whole mental process — the getting weaker, and not being as active as I want to be — is probably going to really drive me crazy.”
“For a long time, I just figured my back was jacked up from the job and work,” he said.
Then came the day-to-day maladies, which he dismissed as a cold or flu as winter dragged on.
“Then one night I woke up with a sharp pain in my groin,” he recalled. “I knew I hadn’t been kicked there or anything like that.”
Aronson’s wife, Mindy, a nurse at Allen County Regional Hospital, ordered him to see a doctor.
The doctors ruled out complications from a recent vasectomy, and directed him to seek further treatment if the pain persisted.
It did.
Aronson underwent an ultrasound and CT scans before visiting with Dr. Michael Peaster, a Bartlesville, Okla.-based urologist.
“He took one look at my CT scan (which revealed a tumor), and said we needed to schedule a surgery,” he said.
Aronson underwent a rapid orchiectomy — “a technical term for removal of a testicle,” he said — and a second scan was ordered.
More bad news.
The cancer had metastasized into Aronson’s lymph nodes, and a larger tumor was found in his abdomen.
Though a subsequent battery of tests revealed the cancer had not spread to Aronson’s head or chest, other scans pointed to potential kidney issues.
That’s when Peaster found still another tumor, pressing between his bladder and kidneys, causing fluid buildup.
Aronson underwent a second surgery, in which a stent was inserted into his kidney to allow the fluid to escape.
“It was instant relief,” he said. “The back pain went away and I haven’t had any pain in my left side since the surgery.”
But the anxiety ratcheted up another notch when Aronson’s urologist ordered still another scan.
“After you’re told you’ve got cancer, and you want to start chemo, blah, blah, blah, and he looks at your scans, and says, ‘I see a couple of spots there. We need to take a PET scan’ to see if it’s spread to the bones …”
Aronson underwent the more extensive scan a week ago Friday followed by three angst-filled days to get the results,
Then came the first bit of good news. The bone tests came back clean.
That was also about the time Aronson started hearing from folks around the community.
“First, there’s my wife,” he said. “She’s been there, and she knows what she’s doing. My kids (ages 20, 13 and 9) have been strong.
“And I’ve had an outpouring of support from friends and family and people I don’t even know. My church has been instrumental. Luke (Bycroft), Jared (Ellis) and Jeff (Cokely), and the people at church have been very supportive.
“I’ve received all sorts of calls and texts. I can’t return them all, but I’m grateful. I’m just speechless. You find out who’s in your corner.”
And while this type of cancer has been known to spread quickly — “You can find some things about it on the Internet that will scare the hell out of you,” he joked — it has a high survival rate.
“If a guy like you or I are going to be told we have cancer, as scary as that is, this is the kind we want,” he said.
“One of the biggest things for me, I’ve asked each of my doctors, was could I still work out. Could I lift?”
The doctors answered affirmatively, but with a caveat.
Chemotherapy is an arduous process. Nausea is a common side effect and what slim appetite he’s had for food in recent weeks might go away entirely.
“My wife is forcing me to drink protein shakes and watching my food,” he said. “I’m terrible about not drinking enough water and that’s critical. Now my diet has to be 100 percent, not 75. Staying active and positive is all you can do.”
Aronson also was admonished by doctors to avoid sparring with his MMA and kickboxing partners Jacob Browning and Dakota Hufferd.
“I was really excited about still getting to workout, and then on Tuesday, my surgeon told me I couldn’t punch with that chemo port in my shoulder.
“I can’t take any punches, which is fine,” he continued. “But I can’t throw ‘em, and that’s frustrating. My way of venting the past few weeks has been looking forward to being able to hit something. I’ll still be training with the guys in the morning and watching and critiquing and coach them up a little bit. But I can’t beat on Dakota like I’d like to. He’s a good guy.
Hufferd has a kickboxing bout in June.
“I’m looking forward to watching his fight,” Aronson said.
“There’s millions of people who’ve had this,” he said. “I’m not any more special than anybody else.
“When you read a story about a 7-year-old with cancer, who’s gone through this treatment for five years, I’m like, “What am I all worried about? I need to suck it up.
“It’s going to be tough,” he continued. “But the minute you start getting down on yourself, then you have to think about the other people who have gone through it. I just know I’m ready to get this over with. I’m ready to get back to work.”
Geared up for the fight of his life
