Maine Man Beats Stage 4 Stomach Cancer, Fights for Screening

Andrew Goodspeed thought he'd never hear good news again after doctors told him cancer had taken over his body in 2021. Today, he's cancer-free and fighting to make sure others get diagnosed before it's too late.

The Maine chef was living his dream life, cooking professionally and traveling with his wife, when he got the diagnosis that changed everything. Stage 4 gastric cancer had spread to his liver, lymph nodes, and 90% of the surface of his bones.

"I tell people I had two out-of-body experiences in my life," Goodspeed said. "The first one was when I was diagnosed with cancer, and the second one was when I was told I no longer had cancer."

Doctors said surgery wouldn't help because they'd have to remove most of his body to get all the cancer. His first MRI looked like a Christmas tree lit up with cancer spreading everywhere.

For two years, Goodspeed endured aggressive treatments at the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care while documenting his journey on YouTube with his wife. Kelly Baker, a nurse manager who worked with him, said most stage 4 patients she sees feel defeated. Not Andy.

"Modern medicine definitely helped save my life in this case," Goodspeed said.

Now in remission, he's channeling his energy into advocacy. He works with five cancer support groups and is pushing hard for the Stomach Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress.

The legislation wouldn't cost taxpayers a penny. It just needs signatures to improve screening and early detection for a disease that kills over 10,000 Americans each year.

The Ripple Effect

Goodspeed wants stomach cancer to get the same screening guidelines as colon and breast cancer. Right now, it doesn't, which means doctors often consider it only as a last resort. He believes endoscopies every three years should be standard.

"A lot of physicians will look at stomach cancer as a last resort, not a first," he explained. That delay costs lives.

His message to anyone facing cancer is simple but powerful: find a reason to live, hold onto it, and use it to fight. And don't go through it alone.

What started as one man's battle has become a mission to change how America detects and treats gastric cancer, one of the five most common cancers worldwide. If the bill passes, countless future patients might catch their cancer early enough to skip the fight Goodspeed had to endure.