TikToker Shares Husband's Cancer Journey And Shocking Reason He's Still Working

Content creator Nikole Forsyth took to TikTok to share her story, not only to ask for help but also to possibly help others going through a similar situation.

Nikole recently shared her family's tragic struggle as her husband is in hospice and must continue to show up for work every day. The reason for that shocks many.

Nikole took to TikTok to share her tragic story and the response she's received has been "incredible."

"If there was ever a time to blow up a TikTok, let it be now. My husband has stage 4 osteosarcoma, which is bone cancer. He was diagnosed in March of 2020," she said in a recently shared TikTok video.

"He's been doing, you know, not the best, but okay up until now. We are basically on end-of-life care, which is hospice, but he still needs to go to work because if he doesn't go to work, then he will no longer have life insurance, and his mindset is to care for myself and my daughter after he passes, which is telling of what type of person he is."

Nikole recently shared more of the story with The Blast exclusively. She said she met her husband, James, in 2015, got engaged in 2018, and married in September 2019.

"In October of 2019, James started having severe pain in his left shoulder. He was already going to physical therapy because of a car accident so the physical therapist sent him for scans," she said. "It took until March of 2020, when I was already four months pregnant, to get diagnosed with stage 4 osteosarcoma that had spread to his lungs."

James then had his humorous bone removed and underwent intense chemotherapy. He was cancer-free for three months, but then it came back.

"James decided that he didn't want to do any more IV chemo because it was no life worth living, so he started an oral chemo medicine. The oral chemo worked for a long time and then stopped working. So he tried a few other things to no avail."

Throughout this time, Nikole and James were going through fertility treatments and did two intrauterine inseminations and two rounds of IVF but they were all unsuccessful. Since they had to pay out of pocket, they were forced to stop, leaving them with another devastating loss to process.

James' job has been helpful throughout the whole process, but sadly, it's the "system" that's "broken," and Nikole hopes that with awareness, she's able to help change that one day.

"James has taken time off work quite a few times and the people he works with have been so generous to donate time and are always checking on him," Nikole told The Blast. "The things that have become issues are when he goes out of work, he doesn't get paid because he has no time left and he has to pay his entire health insurance and life insurance, which is over $1,000 out of pocket."

While James is granted one year out of work where his job will be kept for him unpaid, the issue he's currently facing is that as of July 19, doctors say there are no more treatment options.

"James is concerned that if he is out of work and lives past one year, which the doctor doesn't seem to think he will but James has beaten every odd there has been, he will be too sick to return to work so me and our daughter will not get life insurance because he will no longer be employed or in the union and he cannot get private life insurance because he is already sick," Nikole explained.

Nikole also shared that her husband has been planning ahead and making videos for their daughter that include life lessons, love, and compassion.

"His goal is to make sure she always has words of wisdom from her daddy to look back on for each milestone of life," she said. "He's made birthday cards for her and videos reading books for her to watch when she's missing him. James has really struggled with making all of these things because it just shows how real it all is. I have asked for suggestions from people on Tiktok and am always taking more suggestions of things he can leave for our daughter."

Something that Nikole would love to do for James somehow gets him to a live taping of "Saturday Night Live." He's also a big fan of wrestling and said, "If there was ever a chance to do it, it would have to be now so wishing some people see this with any connections to that."

The family also has a GoFundMe set up if anyone wants to donate.

 Nikole decided to share her story in the hopes of maybe helping someone else someday.

"I've always felt that I'm here on this earth for a bigger purpose, and I've found that through the struggles I've endured my purpose is likely to help others with similar situations," she said. "I'm learning as I go, but one day, I hope my struggles can be someone else's guidebook."

For anyone who's going through something similar, Nikole said to "hold strong and always think positively because what we think manifests."

"Know there is a great purpose for the suffering; it's going to turn you into the person you need to be," she said. "I feel as though if I don't use spirituality, I would just crumble, but as a mom and a wife, I need to continue on with strength. I believe that even when our loved ones pass, they are forever with us, by our side, guiding us throughout our lives."

 The outpouring of love and support from people who come across Nikole's videos has been "incredible." 

"I've felt so much love, validation, and solidarity from complete strangers," she continued. "It's so helpful because the world can be so cruel, but there's also so much greatness that gets overlooked, but will never go unnoticed by me."