Josh Medors is a very talented artist whose art can be seen in horror comics including 30 Days of Night, Chucky, Willow Creek and more. For over a year now, Josh Medors has been battling one of the most horrific things of all, cancer. We caught up with the artist and talked to him about his health and more.

The Big Bad Wolf: Lets go back to the beginning of all this. How did you find out that you had cancer?

Josh Medors: Well during my son’s football season my right leg started going numb. I helped coach my son’s team, so I am always out there with the kids running around. I figured the numbness was from me tweaking something in my back from being out there running drills with the kids. I just thought, “ hey I’m not getting any younger, and I can’t do the things I used to”. I ignored it.

Well football season ended and my leg was still going numb, and now it had started sweating periodically as well as going numb. I know I know your right leg going num, and sweating is pretty strange, but I ignored it still. Then the back pain started. My lower back started hurting really bad especially at night when I was laying down trying to sleep. What did I do? Yup, I ignored it. I was helping coach basketball, and I figured I had tweaked my back again, just like in football. Well one night the coaches were playing a little game against the kids, I was running down the court on a fast break. Remember I was running on a numb right leg. One of the coaches threw me a pass that was a little out of my reach. I planted on my right leg and my knee buckled. I heard a pop, and went down, slid head first into the wall. As you can guess, I tore my knee up. I ended up going to the emergency room getting x-rays, and all that jazz, and was referred to an orthopedic surgeon. I went and saw him a few times. I told him about my leg and my back, but he didn’t seem too concerned. He told me I probably had a slipped disc in my back. In the mean time the pain in my back was getting so severe I couldn’t sleep. I would sit up all night in agony. I mean this was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. I went to my family doctor, and she told me to ask the orthopedic surgeon to x-ray my spine. I went in for an x-ray a few days later. I was lucky to have a doctor’s appointment with my family doctor later that day, that way I could find out the results of my x-ray that day. Well I went in to my doctor’s appointment, when my doctor came in she had this look on her face. I knew something was wrong. I never in a million years expected to hear what she had to tell me. She told me, I had a 2” tumor in my spinal cord, and I needed to head over to the hospital at that moment, to be admitted for surgery. I looked at my wife who instantly started crying. I sat there in disbelief. I instantly thought cancer, but the doctor said that there was a good chance it wasn’t cancer, but something told me, I just knew it was cancer.

The Big Bad Wolf: What type of cancer is it?

Josh Medors: When the specialist told me the name of it, I was like Uhhhhhh huh? It is this three-foot long name that I can’t pronounce. I’ll try for you but I can’t promise I will spell it right. Here we go…. holds breath; xanthromorphicastrocytoma. (anthropomorphic astrocytoma) ; gasp; I think that is close.

The Big Bad Wolf: So you had surgery to remove the tumor in your spine. How long was that surgery and what were the doctors initial thoughts after surgery?

Josh Medors: Yeah I had surgery. I was scared shitless. I had never had surgery before, not even a minor outpatient surgery. To tell you the truth, I was more afraid of the surgery than I was of the thought of the tumor being cancerous. I had no worries of chemo, radiation, or any of that, but I was scared to death I was going to die on the operating table. I went into surgery telling my family goodbye knowing I’d never see them again. The surgery took over six hours. I woke up in the recovery room. I remember talking to my wife, and I also remember there being three nurses there, that I for some reason thought were triplets. Of course they weren’t. The doctor came in and told me he had removed all the tumor and that it wasn’t cancerous. I couldn’t believe it. If you remember earlier I mentioned I had this feeling that it was cancer. For some reason I just knew it was. I asked the doctor if he was sure, and he told me yes, they were sure it wasn’t cancerous.

The Big Bad Wolf: After the surgery, you had to basically re-learn how to walk again. Can you talk about that and what you did to keep your spirits up?

Josh Medors: The surgery had damaged my spinal cord. It was unavoidable. When I woke up from my surgery, I didn’t realize I was numb from the waist down. I didn’t realize it until I was up in my own room, and coming down off the drugs a bit. I tried to move my legs. I saw the covers move but I couldn’t feel my legs moving them. I kind of freaked a bit. I moved my legs faster, but I still couldn’t feel anything with my legs. I reached down and pinched and prodded my legs, but I couldn’t feel anything.

The Big Bad Wolf: What were/are your medical benefits like?

Josh Medors: This is really hard to talk about, and I really haven’t told many people, but after the way the comic industry supported me I feel like I should be as open as possible. The stress of everything that was going on really put a strain on my marriage. Being a freelance artist, I didn’t have insurance for myself. My wife carried insurance on me. Things steadily got worse between my wife and I. I was feeling sorry for myself, and I was tired of everyone telling me that it would be ok, and to be positive. Well to make a long story short, my wife and I separated. I thought I could do everything on my own and I didn’t need anyone. I quickly found out that I was wrong. Between falling down trying to walk up the stairs of my new apartment, and getting to my appointments, I quickly realized I was wrong. I also found out that with out insurance, there was no way I could ever continue to go to the doctor. I was lucky enough to have married one of the kindest, most caring woman in the world. She could have easily dropped her insurance coverage of me, which I thought she did for a while, but she didn’t. Even when things between us grew worse, she put up with me being a gigantic ass. I had something to prove to myself and everyone else. So I pretty much closed myself off. Still she never dropped my coverage, and her insurance just happened to be amazing. It covered everything, except a ten-dollar copay. So the medical benefits are covered at the moment, but with the job market the way it is, no one knows if they will have their job from one day to the next.


The Big Bad Wolf: How long after the surgery did you realize that something wasn't quite right?

Josh Medors: After a couple months my symptoms started coming back. This time it was my left leg that was getting numb and sweating. I told my neurosurgeon about it, but he didn’t seem too concerned. He told me it was just part of the healing process. So for a couple months my symptoms grew worse, but I just wrote it off as “the healing process”.


The Big Bad Wolf: When you went back to the doctor’s office, they found that the tumor had returned. What was the doctor’s prognosis?

Josh Medors: I was scheduled for an MRI at my neurosurgeons. I went in did the whole MRI thing (which I hate! It’s like being in a coffin) after the MRI I met with my neurosurgeon. He told me that he thought I should meet with an oncologist. I asked what an oncologist was and why he thought I should meet with one. He told me that an oncologist was a doctor who specialized in the fast growing cells, which is pretty much what cancer is. He also told me he thought that I should meet with him because it appeared my tumor had returned.


The Big Bad Wolf: After hearing about what you are going through, the comic community rallied around you. What are your thoughts on that?

Josh Medors: I was working on Frank Frazetta’s Swamp Demon at the time. Jay Fotos was my editor, and he would call me every now and then to see how things were going, and how I was holding up. One day he called and asked how I would feel if he put together a benefit auction for me at the upcoming Emerald City comicon. I was touched. I broke down and literally cried on the phone. Jay put out the word, and the response was amazing. I couldn’t believe how the comic community came together for me. Fans and creators alike made donations. I felt bad for Jay and Jim, because the donations were pouring in and it was almost too much for them to handle. Frazetta himself donated a sketch. Even after the show was over, the donations continued to pour in, and they auctioned them off on eBay. Robert Kirkman donated an appearance in the Walking Dead. That auction went off! The Hero Initiative also stepped up, and had an auction for me, and they have been great. Jim Mclauchlin is amazing! He has stayed in touch with me, calling and emailing, making sure I am doing ok. He has also put me in contact with others that have helped out quite a bit. There is no way I could ever thank everyone enough. Without all of you, I don’t think I would have been able to keep my head up.

The Big Bad Wolf: This interview is being conducted in early January of 2009. What is the outlook as of right now? What treatments are you going through, etc?

Josh Medors: I have contacted several clinics, and got the same response from all of them. They told me that they couldn’t do anything for me. They have never seen this type of tumor, and they had no idea how to treat it.

Josh Medors: I am a night owl, so I am normally still up around 7:30, which is when I have to get my son up for school. I get him up, dressed and out the door to catch the bus. I lie down and catch a couple hours of sleep. I get up around 10:30 take a shower, grab a monster, and sit down at the computer. I mess around on the net. I have a few sites I absolutely have to check before I can start work. Of course I hit www.comicmonsters.com first. Then I scoot on over www.newsarama.com , and then I lurk around www.steveniles.com . Then I read all my email, and tell myself I’ll reply later (it normally ends up being days later). Then I slide up to my desk and start the day’s work. I used to be able to sit at the drawing table for hours and hours. Now due to my surgery, and where my tumors are located I can only sit for short periods of time before the pain becomes unbearable. My back hurts so bad I have to get up and walk around for a bit, and I feel this pain through all of my pain meds. I take morphine, vicodin, and oxycodon three times a day, and I still feel so much pain I have to take breaks every couple of hours. I work until my son gets home, and I hang out with him for a while. He normally gets tired of me pretty quick ;) and heads off to play Xbox or the wii. After that I normally hit the drawing table again, and work until dinner. After dinner I catch a nap, then do it all over again.


The Big Bad Wolf: How can people donate money to you?

Josh Medors: I wish I could do commissions right now, but I am soooo backed up on commissions. I mean I am backed up from a year or two ago. I am thankful for Jason Versaggi for taking care of all things commission wise. He has made my life a great deal easier with all his work.

The Big Bad Wolf: Lets talk about your current projects. Can you give us an update on Willow Creek?

The Big Bad Wolf: Thank you for your time, Josh.

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