KILLEEN, Texas — Jakob Coombes vividly remembers the day that he found out his life was going to change forever on December 5, 2018, just two weeks after he celebrated his 21 birthday.
"Maybe it's not cancer, I was thinking it could be this, it could be that, it could be this, it could be that, and then finally I tell my parents, 'Hey I think we need to get this checked out,'" he said inside the Grace Christian Center ahead of the Runway of Hope virtual fundraiser.
But it was cancer. Coombes, a track and field athlete at George Washington University, was told he had Stage 2B Testicular Cancer.
"Life taught me a hell of lesson that day," he said. "It's unpredictable and could change in the blink of an eye."
Jakob underwent a nine week chemotherapy schedule as he met his cancer diagnosis head on under the mantra of legendary basketball coach Jimmy Valvano.
"My first night in the hospital I laid in my bed alone, flipping through the channels before finding something that caught my eye on ESPN," he said. "They were showing the 30 for 30 story of legendary basketball coach and cancer research advocate Jimmy Valvano. His speech echoed in my hospital room, 'Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.' The mantra that fueled my fight. What followed was surgery to remove the cancerous tumor, announcing the beginning of my fight to friends and family, and then 21 rounds of chemotherapy."
Sixty-eight days after his diagnosis, Jakob got the news he was cancer free and that he had won a battle that doesn't discriminate. On Saturday night Jakob and nine other cancer survivors took to the stage for the Runway of Hope, a virtual fundraiser this year to raise money for those once like him, fighting for their lives while hoping to make someone smile along the way.
"Just don't let it dictate your life. You're going to get on the other side of it and I just want you to see that I'm living proof of that. I'm almost two years free of disease and I've got three more years before I'm deemed cancer free," he said with a smile before the show. "It's a fight and it's a fight we can get through and it's definitely easier to get through when you have other people."
Coombes said it was chance to be himself and connect with those who mean so much to him.
"It's an opportunity to be myself and just go out there and be myself, right? It's not often you're going to have people all eyes on you and so I am going to try and own that 10, maybe 15 seconds out there and be me," he said.
That is exactly he did as he flashed that smile, owned the spotlight and strutted his stuff as someone who faced cancer head on and beat it -- just like he said others can and will do by just being themselves.
"Your life can change in an instant but just because those outside perspectives and outside things in your life are changing doesn't mean you have to change at your core," Coombes said. "Just be ready and prepared for it and go through it with a big old smile on your face."
