John Judge: Cancer Doesn’t Have to Be This Scary

John Judge

John Judge has been praying easily and often for years and does his best to encourage everyone in his field. But now, he uses his recent battle with prostate cancer as a springboard to share hope and courage, build friendships, show gratitude, and point people to something bigger than themselves.

“Just because you hear the word ‘cancer’ is not the end-all-be-all,” Mr Hakim said. “That’s the way you look at things. This is perspective. Don’t look at your feet. Keep looking up. God wrote your life perfectly.

He walks with you. It puts people there with you.

Mr. Hakim was treated at the Peeples Cancer Institute (PCI) at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton from January 2023 to March 2023, receiving radiation therapy five times a week. His cancer was discovered in late 2022 thanks to blood work that signaled problems, forcing his doctor to order a biopsy.

“The doctor came in and said simply: ‘I’m not going to make a fuss. You have cancer,’” said Mr. Hakim, a Calhoun resident who is now in remission.

Not wanting to worry his wife next to him, Mr. Judge added humor to the situation and assured her that everything would be okay. He said he would investigate available treatment options.

The type of treatment he decided on could be carried out in a large teaching hospital, but entering such a hospital meant meeting strict requirements regarding his diagnosis and prognosis. His efforts were rejected, so he opted for another type of radiation treatment.

“I kept looking and eventually reached Peeples,” Mr Hakim said.

Dr. As Arif Ali and his team provided care, Mr. Hakim soon learned that many of the professionals at PCI had the same background and experience as his first choice. He immediately felt like he was in the right place.

“I didn’t have to travel from Calhoun and deal with traffic five days a week,” Mr. Judge said. “I only had to drive about 25 miles north to get to Dalton.”

During his treatments, Mr. Hakim arrived at PCI 45 minutes before his 8:15 a.m. appointment. He enjoyed visiting with two other gentlemen who were receiving treatment at the same time. “We felt like three friends,” he said.

Spurred on by the encouragement of their care team, Mr. Judge and his colleagues began to pass on the same encouragement to other cancer patients; They shared their prayers, their faith, and their eternal trust that God would carry them and that they were in the right place for treatment. right reason.

A year later, Mr. Judge still returns to PCI to visit friends and encourage current patients.

“For me, it’s still a joy to go and see the staff and some of the new patients and still be able to pray for them,” he said. “Everyone there has so much compassion in their hearts. They become the hands of God and show their love for people with their actions. “To me, this is amazing.”

Mr. Judge and his wife, Renee, moved to Calhoun from Florida in 2016. He is now retired after working in the pest control industry for more than 30 years and 14 years as a store manager for a large pharmacy chain. He and his wife write a weekly devotional that they send out to a community of subscribers.