ST. GEORGE — On what is known as Black Friday, St. George resident Curtis Blake’s life turned upside down.
The active 37-year-old lived the adventure side of Southern Utah, traversing the red rock terrain of the local state and national parks nearly every weekend. His fiancée Christina Shaw shared that love of adventure and they were preparing to form their own “Brady Bunch” with his two teenage daughters and her three children.
But by the end of that day, Blake would be in a fight for his life – finding out he had a form of cancer that only makes up 1% of all cancers diagnosed, and among that limited group has very few people stricken who are younger than 65.
His family is still seeks for answers, hope and help.
To his brother Craig Blake, the toughest part about seeing his big brother now is seeing someone who makes a point of being active every weekend barely able to stay awake for more than a few minutes.
“He’s out there all the time … cliff jumping, hiking, canyoneering, floating rivers, paddle boarding you name it. He’s non-stop with that, so it’s rough seeing him the opposite of that,” Craig Blake said of his brother, who is one year older and the oldest of six siblings. “Curtis and I have been best friends forever. He’s the type of brother that is cooler than you and takes you everywhere he goes. He got me my first two jobs.”
Curtis Blake, who works in sales, woke up the day after Thanksgiving “feeling crummy.” He decided to take a hot bath and shower to shake it off. But just a month after he conquered The Narrows at Zion National Park, Blake could barely stand up in the shower.
“I got dizzy and found myself dry heaving in the sink,” Blake said in a statement to St. George News from his hospital bed. “Christina heard a loud thud and looked out to find me slumped against the bathroom door with my eyes rolling in the back of my head as I was sinking to the floor. I had passed out. I remember coming to and seeing her face and hearing her yell for help but not understanding what was going on.”
What happened from there became a journey in one weekend from InstaCare to the emergency room to a hospital in Salt Lake City and a prognosis from just a little under the weather to a mild form of cancer to one with a survival rate beyond five years, according to the American Cancer Society, of 27%.
“We went to the InstaCare, who sent us to the emergency room where they teased that I probably just had a bad case of the ‘poops and toots’ and took too hot of a shower,” Blake said. “Unfortunately, when the results from my blood test came back, they found that my white blood cell count was off the charts. That was when we first heard the words lymphoma and leukemia.”
Craig Blake said after his brother’s blood test, the phlebotomist said they had never seen a white blood cell count as high in 17 years. In any form of leukemia, according to doctors, a person’s white blood cell count exceeds that of red blood cells when it should be the other way around. In the blood, it’s the red blood cells that transport oxygen, while white blood cells are a kind of fighter squadron that destroys viruses and harmful bacteria.
Craig Blake said his brother was initially diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). According to the American Cancer Society, CML is relatively survivable with a 70% survivability rate.
The Blakes were told they needed to go to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City and it would only take a weeklong hospital stay for Curtis’ treatment. With Curtis Blake saying he was “ balled up and nauseous in the back seat,” they fought post-holiday traffic on Interstate 15 and by Friday night were at the hospital.
At the Salt Lake City hospital, Blake was told he didn’t have CML. He had acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a survival rate of 29.5% for those over age 20. It was not going to be a week in the hospital but more than a month. He will very likely not be home for Christmas.
“It seems every time we share specifics, new test results are received, and our understanding of what I have and what our strategies are changes,” Curtis Blake said. “But what I know right now is that my blood is not working the way it’s supposed to.”
Blake wouldn’t be the first recent Southern Utah person under 40 to battle AML and win. Kalamity and Kaos dance team founder Tia Stokes, then a St. George resident, faced her own battle against AML in 2020. She beat it and is back dancing, since moving to Orem.
Until last Friday, everything was looking up for Blake. Three years ago, he met Shaw on a boat and in May, Blake proposed to her in May an underwater proposal using scuba gear.
Blake’s brother said Shaw, a school counselor, had just finished moving to the St. George area.
“This is the worst,” Craig Blake, who himself lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, said. “They were just starting their life there.”
Curtis Blake said there were some signs his health might be deteriorating.
“For the past two months, I have felt pretty sick. I haven’t had much energy, have had very little appetite, and I haven’t been able to do the thing that Christina and I love most, which is adventuring,” said Blake. “Once I received the leukemia diagnosis, I joked with Christina saying, ‘I guess this is our new adventure.’”
That adventure started on Tuesday with his first chemotherapy treatment but suffered a setback Wednesday when the treatments were held up after Blake came down with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). He only has minutes of being awake that punctuate just an hour of restless sleep at a time.
Also causing restlessness are the big bills for treatment even with insurance. The Blake family has set up a GoFundMe to raise funds for both the treatment and the post-treatment.
Blake has another request that has nothing to do with money.
“The last thing I could ask for is to simply be kind. I know that sounds so incredibly cheesy but some battles are fought publicly and some are fought very privately. We never really know exactly what is going on in someone’s life so the best thing we can do is just be kind,” Blake said. “I know my kids will need kindness at this time. That same kindness I hope my family receives might just completely make another person’s lunch break, checkout line experience, day or even year a better one.”
Ed. note: When making charitable contributions it is advisable to consult with professionals for tax advice and investment risks.
Photo Gallery
Curtis Blake with his fiancée Christina and their combined families in an undated photo | Photo courtesy of Craig Blake, St. George News Curtis Blake with his fiancée Christina in his room at LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Nov. 27, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Curtis Blake, St. George News Curtis Blake, in an undated photo, in one of his many Southern Utah hikes | Photo courtesy of Craig Blake, St. George News Curtis Blake, in an undated photo, in one of his many Southern Utah hikes | Photo courtesy of Craig Blake, St. George News Curtis Blake, in an undated photo, in one of his many Southern Utah hikes | Photo courtesy of Craig Blake, St. George News Curtis Blake, in an undated photo, in one of his many Southern Utah hikes | Photo courtesy of Craig Blake, St. George News
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