Lance and Therese met on June 25, 2008 after encountering each other on Match.com. Lance is an electrical engineer at Texas Instruments (TI) in Houston and has worked there for the past 21 years. Therese is a Family Nurse Practitioner and has worked at a private family practice office in Houston for the past 10 years. Both have roots in Louisiana with their families both being from the Lafayette area.
Therese was born in St. Martinville, La. and is the youngest of 6 children. She grew up in St. Martinville and Baton Rouge, attending high school at Christian Life Academy in Baton Rouge. She graduated from LSU with her Bachelor’s in Nursing in 1995 and moved to Houston in 1998 to attend UT-Houston for graduate school.
Lance was born in Crowley, La., and he is the youngest of 3 children. He was raised in Houston and attended South Houston hih High School. He graduated from Texas A&M with his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering in 1992. He has worked at TI since graduating from college.
During single life both Therese and Lance always dreamed of getting married and having children, but they didn’t encounter the right person until they were a bit older. Throughout singlehood, they continued to develop friendships, stayed active in the community while always keeping an eye out for that special person, and had faith that God would allow them to meet their perfect match in his perfect timing.
After communicating online and over the phone for several weeks, Therese and Lance met for a date for the first time on June 25, 2008. Shortly thereafter, they began to realize how similar they were in their faith, upbringings and personalities. Both were raised in the Catholic faith and grew up with the unique appreciation for the Cajun culture. Both of their parents have been married for over 50 years. Both are the youngest in each family and were the last ones to get married. After several weeks of dating, they also began to realize that their dreams, goals, and desires for their lives and their futures were the same, and both began to consider that this may be the person that they had patiently and faithfully been waiting for.
Lance recalls that on his 38th birthday (July, 30, 2008), at an after work birthday gathering with co-workers (basically just an excuse to introduce Therese to some of his friends), Lance invited Therese to join them. Therese brought him cupcakes! They always say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well, this could be a true statement for Lance, because this was the date that made him realize that he was falling in love with Therese.
Therese’s favorite date was only a week later, when the two of them went visit a local brewery, then they took a spontaneous trip to a town south of Houston called Kemah. Ironically, it was in Kemah that Lance told Therese he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) 10 years prior. He had very few symptoms of this disease and was taking a daily injection to keep the disease under control. For Therese, she remembers taking a couple of days to contemplate the implications and seriousness of this announcement, for MS has the possibility to lead to significant physical disability. After praying about this and talking it over with some of her closest friends and her sister, Therese began to realize that, YES, she loves Lance! For she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this man, no matter what challenges his health would present. After all, she also realized that she, too, could be the one to one day suffer some form of disability, and Lance could be the one taking care of her. But THAT’S what love is really about – it’s an unconditional commitment to another person, secured by roots of deep, emotional love for one another.
Well, the dating and getting to know each other continued. On Oct.25, 2008 Therese introduced her parents to Lance. After dinner, Lance and Therese were alone and began discussing their goals and feelings about each other, and it was at this point (on their 4 month anniversary of meeting) that they began discussing marriage. At this point they had met each other’s parents and had truly begun falling in love with each other.
During this same time, Lance was undergoing and being treated for what was thought to be asthma or bronchitis. His coughing could not be controlled. After getting a chest x-ray, his doctor surprisingly made an appointment for him to be seen by a pulmonologist the very next day. The pulmonologist informed Lance that she would need to do a biopsy, which she scheduled for the following morning. It was so comforting to Lance to have both his mom and dad travel from Louisiana to be there during the biopsy. It was also amazing to him that Therese was also there by his side (they had only known each other a bit more than 4 months!). A follow-up appointment was made the following Monday so that Lance could receive the results of the biopsy.
On Monday, November 10, 2008. Lance, along with Therese and his parent’s, went in to see the doctor for the biopsy results. The doctor sat down and said, “I’m glad you are all here today because I don’t have good news.” Then she gave the diagnosis: “You have CANCER, and you need treatment immediately”. After many tears, reality set in and they realized that they needed to take action quickly. That moment in time will never be forgotten. The doctor felt that it would be December before Lance could be seen at M.D. Anderson (MDA), a cancer hospital in Houston that is regarded as one of the top cancer centers in America. Meanwhile that same day, one of Therese’s closest friends, who works at MDA, was fortunately able to get an appointment for him to be seen by one of the top lung cancer specialists in the country within a matter of days. God definitely was at their side through this memorable and life-changing day.
Numerous more tests were done at MDA, and the doctor there concluded that this was Stage 4 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, and the cancer was in the lungs, bones, and brain. Lance was informed that his cancer could not be cured but it could be controlled, and he was also encouraged to always think positive. After explaining the options, the doctor said with Lance being young man and has never smoked who also has MS, he would recommend a targeted lung cancer treatment named Tarceva, which is a pill to be taken every day. He would repeat scans 4 weeks after Lance started the Tarceva to determine whether this treatment was working to control the cancer.
Lance, who was still coughing and short of breath from the cancer, started the Tarceva the next day. He took a few weeks off of work to absorb all that was going on and to focus on how to proceed with his future. With the support of his family and friends, he was able to stay positive, and he started feeling better within a matter of days. The cough was improving, and there was less need to use the oxygen that had been set up for him at home.
During this time of learning about Lance’s diagnosis and treatment, Lance and Therese not only continued dating but actually began to grow closer together. Their love became even more real, and their desire to spend their lives together grew stronger.
On December 17th, Lance went back to see the doctor at MDA, and results of the scans were encouraging: the cancer in the lungs was much reduced! The doctor warned that at some point during the treatment, the cancer would become resistant to this treatment. He said he would be watching Lance closely with scans to be done every few weeks/months.
On December 25th, their 6 month Anniversary of meeting one another, Lance asked Therese to marry him, and she said yes! After so many years of being single, this was a much anticipated moment for both of them as so many of their dreams were coming true. Despite Lance’s cancer, they decided to carry on with their dreams of getting married and having children together. They decided to trust God with their future, knowing that no one knows exactly what the future holds for any of us.
Lance and Therese got married on March 28, 2009. They had a beautiful wedding and a wonderful honeymoon. It was all beyond any of their dreams or expectations, and they felt very blessed by God to have experienced this beautiful sacrament.
Another wonderful dream came true for them just two months later when they discovered they were expecting a baby! Once again, a miracle and a blessing had come their way! And this was certainly a great way to keep them focused on the positive things happening in their lives.
Lance continued seeing the doctor at MDA every few weeks. The MRIs and CTs continued to show that the Tarceva was working until January 2010. There was slight growth of the cancer in the lungs, so the doctor increased the dosage of the Tarceva and planned to see Lance again in March.
On February 1, 2010, Lance and Therese’s son, Jude Allen, was born. Once again, this was a miraculous, life-changing and dream-come-true day for the two of them. Jude has indeed been a tremendous blessing in their lives. He is healthy and, of course, amazingly adorable!
In March, when Lance followed up at MDA, he unfortunately found out that the cancer had grown more. A repeat biopsy confirmed that he had developed resistance to Tarceva as the doctor had predicted would happen. He was placed on a type of chemotherapy called Alimta to see if this drug would again allow the cancer to stabilize. He was warned that the chemo may result in sterility and may prevent him from having further children. After two rounds of Alimta, scans showed that the cancer was still growing.
The next recommendation of the doctor was for Lance to enter a clinical trial that would target the specific type of resistance that he had developed to Tarceva. He specifically suggested a trial that would be beginning in the coming months in either Nashville or New York City. While waiting for this trial to begin, Lance remained on Tarceva in order to slow the growth of the cancer.
In the meantime, Therese and Lance enjoyed watching their beautiful son grow and develop. They began wondering about the possibility of having a second child. While knowing this would be much to handle given their circumstances, they trusted that if this was God’s will, then they would conceive another child.
In September of 2010, Therese discovered that she was pregnant with their second child! Yet another miracle had happened in their lives, for this pregnancy was indeed against many odds. They recently found out that this baby is a girl, which was one of Lance’s greatest dreams…to have a baby girl. Her name will be Jolie Therese.
The clinical trial began in November 2010, and Lance was accepted as a participant in this trial in Nashville. He was started on the combination of two drugs, one that is a daily pill and the other that is an infusion given every two weeks. The trial was a huge commitment since Lance would be required to fly from Houston to Nashville every two weeks for all of his testing and treatments. Therese has gone with him every 4 weeks to be with him when he receives the results of the scans, which determine whether the treatment is working.
Four weeks into the trial, the results of the scans looked encouraging as the tumors in the lungs had decreased and the lesions in the brain were stable. After 8 weeks, however, Lance once again received discouraging news. The lesions in the brain had increased in number and size. He was informed it was now time for whole brain radiation.
Fortunately, Lance was able to receive the brain radiation back home in Houston at MDA. He was then allowed to return to Nashville to resume the study drugs. After 4 more weeks back on the drugs, the tumors in Lance’s lungs were once again reduced. He remains in the trial at this point and will be allowed to do so until the cancer grows again.
The month of May 2011 brought many joys to the Bertrands. Two days before the scheduled birth of their second child, Lance received the results of his latest CT and MRI scans. Both scans showed that the cancer remained stable in the brain and lungs. The perfect timing of this news brought Lance and Therese much needed relief, and on May 18th, they welcomed their daughter, Jolie Therese to the world.
