Jerome Axton had awoken before from behind the doors of anesthesia. In fact, he had awoken more than a dozen times in the last six years as the result of a cancer diagnosis back in 2014.

 

It was that year he learned he had osteosarcoma, which is a bone cancer more commonly associated with teenagers and rapid growth. The thing is Jerome Axton, in 2020, had beat the cancer. He knocked it into remission years ago.

 

Complications from the surgery to remove the tumor and repair the leg with cancer, however, led to a follow-up surgery. Then another. Then a few more over the next few years as the pain increased and the options to fix the pain began to dwindle.

 

Multiple times when coming out of surgery he was in pain. He admits he was, as he often would be going into them, scared. Yet there was one thing starting back with the cancer diagnosis to way too many trips to the hospital for surgery Jerome Axton never was thinking about.

 

“I went through 10 months of chemotherapy and more than a dozen surgeries and never once did I think about dying,” said Axton. “When I had the first of my most recent round of surgeries, I thought I was dying. Actually, I felt for a while I certain I was going to die.”

 

It was earlier this month, on Feb. 13, when Axton arrived in Morgantown. He had already come to the decision that he was going to have his leg amputated. The pain he was enduring as a result of the surgeries needed from the ongoing infections were bad enough. The pain he saw on those who love him, from his wife Brittany to his mom Anne and family and friends, as he struggled was too much.

 

The decision was made. As part of the amputation, Axton underwent a procedure known as rotationplasty. After taking out the damaged portion of the leg, Axton’s foot was removed and attached to his knee but flipped 180 degrees.

 

The purpose was two-fold. It was to create an amputation below the knee where success is higher. And the reverse foot was to work better with a prosthesis and provide a full range of motion.

 

The procedure didn’t work. Axton knew it almost immediately.

 

“We knew it was high risk, but I’ve went into all of this with a certainty of the best positive outcome. Usually, that’s been the case.”

 

This time, it wasn’t.

 

“I could tell something was wrong when I was awake; something wasn’t right. When you’ve been though as many surgeries as I’ve been through, you just know,” said Axton. “I think the doctors knew too. The pain, though, was something they struggled to get under control.”

 

Due to Axton’s years of pain, his tolerance of what most medical teams use were not producing the desired result to ease his pain. Because of that, Axton said they went to something unusual. 

 

“They gave me what was, I guess, a street drug or something really powerful,” said Axton of the drug Ketamine. “The whole thing for those few days were really scary, but this helped because it got the pain under control.”

 

What it didn’t do was stop Axton from knowing what was going on to the foot attached to his knee. He knew it was failing.

 

“It was looking blue. It was taking blood to my foot, but it wasn’t bringing it back out and it was draining my body of blood,” he said. “They were giving me pints and pints of blood.”

 

The doctors tried to stimulate the blood flow with heat. Axton said even leeches were put on the newly attached foot at his knee.

 

“They literally tried everything,” he said. “The really bad part is anxiety set in. It’s bad enough under a normal situation, here it was beyond a terrible feeling.”

 

The anxiety led to panic attacks as the medical staff attempted to do a CT scan. Axton said he passed out and when he awoke, he was puking. Even that wasn't normal.

 

“There was nothing in my system to puke,” said Axton. “The whole thing was getting terrifying, and more than once on that Friday and Saturday I thought I was going to die.”

 

 

Eventually, they got the CT scan. Eventually, he had stints put in. Sadly, things got worse.

 

“The stints didn’t work and now my body started shutting down. My kidneys were shutting down and I knew I was dying,” said Axton. “Brittany made the decision to get rid of the foot and do a straight amputation or I wouldn’t make it. It saved my life.”

 

His next to last surgery was a mid-thigh amputation. The doctors told Axton, although not out of the woods, things went well.

 

“I kind of knew I was going to be okay even though they didn’t say that immediately,” said Axton. “I guess part of it was I was really hungry because it was Saturday and I hadn’t eaten since Wednesday before 9 p.m. I eventually ate Sunday morning.”

 

Each time during his most recent stretch of surgeries when he awoke, Axton was greeted by something other than pain. While it didn’t eliminate the pain, it soothed his soul.

 

First, he would see his mother, his wife and his mother-in-law (Lisa Musgrave) there by his side. Second, there were messages – hundreds of them.

 

“I had that unconditional support that I knew I had, but it’s still a comfort to see the support right there. Then, the massive number of messages I received reminded me how blessed I am,” said Axton.

 

There was a problem. Axton’s body was swollen, and his hands and arms were so sore he couldn’t pick up the phone to respond to the hundreds of text messages and Facebook messages.

 

"My hands and arms were so sore. I couldn’t even pick up the phone. I wanted to make sure to get back to them and couldn't do it," said Axton.

 

He did what he's done before. He turned to his wife who helped post a message for him. Eventually, he responded to as many of the messages as he could despite the fact that even this week, he was still sore from having multiple surgeries earlier this month in just a few days.

 

It should be noted that after the amputation, he had one more surgery – a rare one. The surgery helped eliminate the phantom leg pain from the amputation by “rewiring” the nerves. That was surgery number 17 – Tuesday, Feb. 18. He hopes it’s his last.

 

“I’m still in pain, but it’s better and when it keeps getting a little better each day it’s easy to be optimistic,” said Axton. “Now I’m looking forward to getting these sutures out, do some serious therapy and get fitted for a prosthetic in a few months.”

 

That prosthetic, Axton said before the latest surgeries and even after, is going to change his life for the good.

 

“You know I love basketball and I’m not wanting to just be able to shoot on a prosthetic. I’m going to play. When you can’t do anything and then you have the opportunity to do everything, you better do everything,” he said. “Everything is what I’m going to do.”

 

As for the support he’s received through his latest ordeal and back to when it all began in 2014, Axton said it’s been everything.

 

“It’s overwhelming at times in a good way and definitely humbling. Watching people reach out when they don’t have to, seeing donations come in, cards, texts, messages on social media from friends, family and even strangers, is just amazing,” he said. “My wife works her butt off to provide for us, but to not have to worry about money because of people doing things for us says all you need to know about our support group. That’s one of the biggest things that got me through this.”

 

The other?

 

“My faith in God carried me and my faith is stronger now than ever. There was no one that could help me through this at the highest level but God. He pulled me through again,” said Axton.  “When you have God working for you and so much support, how can you complain. Besides, I’ve had an amazing life and it’s about to get better.”

 

Better because of perspective.

 

Better because death knocked at his door. Better because he slammed the door in death’s face.

 

Now, the only thing knocking is opportunity. I’m certain Axton will be letting opportunity in because he now has the chance to do everything with one leg that he couldn’t with two.

 

That, friends, is a lesson in perspective. It's the foundation Jerome Axton stands on.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Jerome and Brittany Axton prior to surgery, while the fourth photo shows the same affection between the two post-surgery. In the second photo, Axton is show three days after his operation, while he's involved with some therapy in the third photo after surgery. In the bottom photo, friends gather to visit Jerome who is resting and getting ready to start therapy and get his prosthetic. All photos courtesy of Jerome Axton.