24-year-old world champion cowboy Dean Thompson received the shocking diagnosis recently that he has an aggressive form of cancer. He has provided rodeo journalist Kendra Santos with several updates. On Easter Sunday he told her, “I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by my family 24/7 since this diagnosis, and I’m beyond thankful for all the thoughts and prayers I have received. This is just the beginning, but I’m ready for this challenge. A minor setback for a major comeback!” A few days into his first round of chemo, Dean shared, “This may be the first time in my life where I’ve felt and seen the energy and power of prayer. The CT scan at the ER found what looked like a 2.5” ball of swollen lymph nodes in my neck. When the biopsy results came back five days later is when I got the extremely urgent call to get to the hospital. Burkitt’s Lymphoma has been known to DOUBLE in 24-72 hours, so it can be one of the most aggressive cancers on the lot. It hasn’t been doing that with me, thankfully, but I’ve been receiving treatments since. My first treatment (on Easter Sunday) was bad. It caught me by surprise how awful I was going to feel. But my second treatment was so much better. I swear the swelling—the cancer in my neck is visible—went down after only two treatments.” Cards of support can be sent to Dean Thompson at PO Box 242, Altamont, UT 84001.
