A husband, father, and a teacher fighting a rare cancer is “pursuing healing” in the absence of a cure.
He donned his running shoes and ran 37 miles to mark his 37th birthday in October, raising money for cancer research in the process.
Joel Stetler, of Fresno, California, has been fighting hard since his diagnosis in 2015. The third-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary has a rare form of stage four sarcoma, malignant cancer that forms in the bones and soft tissue.
“Fight it in any way you can,” Stetler told ABC 7. “And if there’s not a cure on the table, pursue healing.”
Despite enduring multiple surgeries and eight rounds of chemotherapy, Stetler crossed the 37-mile finish line at Art of Life Healing Garden in North Fresno with a friend, who had recently beaten cancer.
“I had never heard of this kind of cancer,” he told Clovis Roundup. “All I could think about was all the things we hadn’t done with our kids yet.”
After his diagnosis, however, Stetler stayed true to his running pledge and turned his efforts toward fundraising to help find a cure for others.
Stetler ran the New York City Marathon in 2019.
Having already refuted his prognosis, Stetler does not know how much time he has left, the Clovis Roundup stated. The brave fighter is simply living each remaining day to the fullest.
