Staying upbeat and driven helped Alliance’s Derrick Wells overcome testicular cancer about six years ago, and it also helped him make healthy lifestyle choices that now have him feeling the best he’s ever felt. He likes using his experiences to try to inspire other people, including those with cancer, to always have a positive attitude and to live each day to its fullest.
JEFF FIELDER Editor
ALLIANCE – Derrick Wells was living in Holdrege and working as an underground foreman for Husker Irrigation when he was 24 years old.
He enjoyed his job, but he didn’t enjoy the pain that he had started to feel in his back, which he thought was due to the physical aspect of his job duties, such as lifting heavy items and shoveling dirt.
He went to a doctor to try to get some relief for his pain.
“Of course, being a young guy, they didn’t assume the worst, so they figured I had just pulled a muscle,” said Wells, a 2006 Alliance High School graduate. “They said, ‘Here’s some pain killers and muscle relaxers, and that should help out.’ It did work for a while.”
But the pain never went away completely, and a few months later, the pain was actually worse than it was before.
“Then it got to a point where it was so bad I couldn’t sleep at night,” Wells said.
He became extremely fatigued and tired, and he started to feel ill.
“I had no idea what was going on, but I knew something was wrong,” he said.
The full story is in the January issue of Nspire Today! magazine. A one-year subscription (12 issues) is only $15. You may sign up for a subscription by sending $15 to Nspire Today!, P.O. Box 454, Scottsbluff, NE 69363, or you may pay with a credit card by calling 308-220-8865. If you would like to increase your subscription to $20, Nspire Today! will donate the extra $5 in January to the Buckboard Therapeutic Riding Academy.
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