Brain cancer patient, wife spread message of hope through rocks

TAMPA - John Shadock and his wife Ali are spreading positivity at Moffitt Cancer Center through healing words colorfully painted on rocks and placed near the entrance.

"Let's make some other person who is having a bad day feel better," said John.

John has been getting treatments at Moffitt for glioblastoma, a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumor.

He remembers how bleak things seemed when he got the diagnosis back in 2019.

"Very distraught. I figured that everything was going to be over," said John.

"The doctor came out to me and basically told me, at 35 years old, he had maybe a year to live. So devastated, of course", said Ali.

Five years later, John and Ali both consider it a miracle that John is still doing as well as he is.

His doctor said it has been something to witness.

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"It's kind of remarkable that somebody lives that long. It's a bit unusual. I think he's an inspiration because he seems pretty happy and he's doing okay. He was on a couple of clinical trials, which I think is super important for people to know that clinical trials can help. One of these was an immunotherapy, and I think that might account for how well he's doing," said Dr. Peter Forsyth, the Chairman of the Neuro-Oncolgy Program at Moffitt Cancer Center.

And things could look promising in the future for John and patients like him.

"We have to cure these, and I think we're going to cure them. I don't know when or at least have people live a lot longer. I think the hope is tremendous right now. There's all sorts of new ways to harness your own immune system, which is, I think, the major discoveries are going to be made. And it's just the beginning", said Forsyth.

"I feel great, like, let's keep the research going," said John.

Besides the Rocks, John and Ali have also created an Instagram account to document Johns' progress and to send other warriors a message of courage above fear.

"Instead of being scared of your diagnosis, just be courageous about it and know you're going to be fine," said John.