Osmond Nicholas, a police offer from California, was only 26 years old when he started experiencing extreme discomfort from constant fatigue, intense headaches, and blackouts. It took specialists several months to determine just what was causing all the pain.
The diagnosis was given in July 2017 and it turned Osmond’s world upside down.
It turned out to be stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme, a rare, deadly form of brain cancer. He couldn’t figure out how it happened or even come to terms with the fact that he was diagnosed with such a disease.
“I literally thought, I’m young, I have cancer — that means they could probably give me the most chemotherapy and most radiation and I’ll be fine. Then my oncologist later broke it down that this is not that type of cancer; it’s a terminal cancer. Sometime, sooner or later, it will come back.”
The diagnosis cast a dark shadow over all his plans.
He was about to marry his fiancée, Trinity Daniel, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted her to go through such an ordeal.
“I didn’t really know if I wanted to go through with getting married and put my wife through becoming a widow and have a daughter and let her grow up without dad if things went south or how they said it’s supposed to go.”
But Osmond and Trinity still decided to get married and embrace life together.
They tied the knot in September 2017 after Osmond’s three-week stay in the hospital’s oncology unit.
The following year, the happy couple welcomed their first daughter, Riyah.
Trinity shares,
“He was more excited, I think, to be a dad, especially when she was born. I work usually outside of the home, so he’s the one that’s here with her during the day. He does everything — meals, diapers. I credit him with her learning how to walk and talk because I wasn’t there and she was home with him.”
Osmond didn’t let his condition stop him from fully embracing his role as a father.
The year after, he decided to retire from the police force so he could be even more hands on with his little girl.
He continues to receive regular transfusions and brain scans so doctors can watch out for signs of recurrence. He also wears Optune, a cap that treats the glioblastoma.
None of this was ever easy on the young dad but he didn’t let the uncertainty of it all get in the way of his role as a dedicated husband and father.
“Even if I do go in five years, six years, which I’m hoping I don’t … there are kids out there and little daughters out there that don’t have many days with their father — and he’s alive. So I say, hey, now I can give her all my time.”
Osmond shares that having Riyah has greatly impacted his perspective.
“I don’t think I see things rosier, but I think I see it more as the perspective of it all comes back to — you can die any day, so live your life for each day, every day.”
He also explains that had he decided to put off getting married and raising a baby, it would equate to him admitting defeat to cancer.
Osmond’s positive outlook has definitely inspired many others with terminal illnesses to hold on to hope.
His story sends a beautiful message that no matter how bleak some circumstances may be, all hope is not lost.
“It was kind of my first leap of faith that I’m going to live my life and live without boundaries and not let cancer take me a day before.”
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