Faces of Blue: Kim Morring

I met the love of my life in 2006, five months later we were engaged. In July of 2009, we got married. We were enjoying life as a newly married couple, when my beloved husband had a stroke in 2010.

We weren’t sure what caused the stroke, since Joe was a relatively healthy 35-year-old. Joe started experiencing some extreme constipation. In fact, he was in so much pain that he called the EMTs to the house to transport him to the hospital. By the time they got there, he was feeling a bit better, so he sent them away with the promise that he would go to the doctor if the symptoms returned.

The next day we went to urgent care because he was experiencing pretty awful pain in his abdomen. The doctor checked his blood work and said that the constipation was causing the pain. He gave Joe stool softeners and told him to take those and call his doctor if they didn’t resolve the issue.

Joe was feeling a little better, but then he started throwing up. The vomit was black, like tar, so I got Joe in the car and took him to the emergency room. He received a CT scan of his abdomen. The results came back that there was an obstruction in his colon, so he was admitted to the hospital for surgery.

The next day we met with two surgeons, a colorectal surgeon and a surgical oncologist. They informed us that they suspected colon cancer, based on the location of the obstruction, bloodwork results, and symptoms. He went in for surgery, where 90% of his colon was laparoscopically removed. Two days after his surgery, Joe developed septic shock and was rushed to the ICU. His blood pressure was dangerously low. Thankfully, he pulled through and was released a month later. He went through six months of chemotherapy and was declared to be free of cancer in December of 2010.

A year after his remission began, we were comfortable trying to start a family and got pregnant with our son. Our son made his debut in late November of 2012 and life was good. Joe’s cancer was in remission, and we were generally pretty happy. During this time, and beyond, we were diligent about annual CT scans, oncology check-ups (including blood work), endoscopies, and colonoscopies.

In March 2016, the doctor noticed something new in Joe’s CT scans, so they sent him for a PET scan. On March 25, 2016 we got the dreaded news that Joe’s colon cancer had returned to his abdomen and he was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.

The doctors recommended a three-month regiment of chemotherapy followed by a very invasive surgery to remove the tumors and flood his abdomen with chemo in hopes of killing the cancer completely.

The chemo did what it was supposed to do and the tumor (that they could see on the scans) was shrinking. Joe went in for surgery, and that is when his surgeon found a second tumor in his abdomen and was able to get clear margins in removing both tumors. The surgery was very long, but Joe made it through and I was able to visit him in recovery.

However, about a week later, there was a complication when Joe’s small intestine sprung a tiny leak and was draining into his abdomen, which required a second surgery. After the second surgery, Joe was put on the strongest antibiotics possible to combat the bacterial infection, but it proved to be too much for his body. Joe developed sepsis and died on September 20, 2016, at the age of 41.

Joe was one of the bravest, kindest, and most caring men I have ever met. When he received his diagnosis, he told me that he wanted to fight this with every fiber he had left to be around for me and for our four-year-old son. He wanted to give us the world.

Joe believed with all of his heart that GOD was going to get him through this one way or the other, and he knew that if this was his final chapter that he wasn’t scared to die. He had no doubt about where he was going.

Return To Faces Of Blue Learn More About Colon Cancer