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Hometown Living At Its Best 17
back injury, and so that’s how the
doctor treated it.” But as the pain
increased, his health plummeted.
“Within four weeks, I’d lost 40
pounds and could hardly get out of
bed.”
Elliot sought the counsel of
other doctors. “One time the pain
got so bad that while my wife was
helping me to the restroom, my
whole right side just gave out. I
laid on the floor for about an hour
gasping for breath in pain.”
After several emergency room
trips and countless tests, he found
himself completely bedridden in the
Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton.
“It was March 24, 2014. The doctor
came in and said, ‘You’ve got some
kind of cancer, and we don’t know
what it is. We’ve got to get you
stable and move you to Memorial in
Savannah.’”
Laying on his back on that
hospital bed, Elliot caught sight of
the round vision of light from the
moon shining through the open
blinds. “My wife had cried, my kids
had cried, and I had cried. I’d told
the preacher, ‘I’m scared half to
death.’ He said, ‘I understand,’ and
said a prayer for me. As I lay there
looking out at that huge moon, I
prayed, ‘God, please give me peace.’
And Boom! It was that instant.”
On March 24, 2014, Elliot was
transferred to Memorial Hospital
in Savannah. His condition was
so unstable that his children had
to wait ten days before they were
allowed to see him. After four days
of numerous tests, Elliot was finally
diagnosed with Testicular Cancer
Stage 3C. “The cancer had caused a
100% blockage in my left leg from my
knee up,” he said. “I should have died
and didn’t.” Even worse, the cancer
was spreading. “They found a bunch
of polyps in my lungs and lymph
nodes, but thankfully none of them
were cancerous.”
Elliot had his first round of
chemotherapy before leaving the
hospital. He started treatments
that following week at Low Country
Cancer Center in Savannah. “One
morning when we were trying to leave
for my treatment in Savannah, I was
dry heaving so badly, I told my wife, ‘I
can’t do it anymore.’ The medication
for nausea did nothing. My wife was
bawling crying. She asked me, ‘What
do you teach our children?’ I said,
‘A quitter never wins, and a winner
never quits. You don’t ever quit. You
don’t ever give up.’” As soon as the
words came out of his mouth, Elliot
said, “Let’s go.”
From that time on doctors banned
travel between treatments. “That
meant I had to stay in Savannah for
the five days of chemo and couldn’t go
home except on the weekends. That’s
when I found out about the American
Cancer Society. I’d heard about them,
but I didn’t know about the resources
they make available and what they
actually will do for you. Before I was
done with my chemo that day, my
room for extended stay was taken
care of, family brought food, and my
church, Watermelon Creek Baptist
Church in Tattnall County, stepped up
to help us.”
As soon as he was able, Elliot
went back to work. “The Chief put
me in Investigations where I could
go through files, close them out, or
whatever needed to be done. The City
of Vidalia was so good to me. They
helped me get through this. After
about a month, I was able to go from
being pushed around in a wheelchair