Nevin Shoker seemed to be in the clear, spending his summer in celebration as scans in June indicated that he was in full remission after batting Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for a year.

The 29-year-old, who grew up in Ceres and took the first steps towards a career in media production and music at Stanislaus State, was providing optimistic updates on his social media platforms. As he shared with the Journal earlier this year, his music career had established a solid online following, which only grew as he shared daily updates of his cancer journey as he made it a mission to urge others to watch out for specific symptoms and to advocate for themselves following doctors controversial dismissing his cancer concerns and instead blaming asthma.

Unfortunately for Shoker and his family, nearly the same story began to unfold in July, when his mother, Laxmi, was diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma, a stomach cancer. It was a revelation that came after doctors similarly dismissed her constant stomach pains.

“It was devastating," Shoker said. “Right when I’m turning the corner, we get this news, and it just felt like the cycle was never ending. It was another round of fear, another round of frustration that our concerns were brushed to the side.​​ Traumatized, really, from doctors not taking me seriously, and then seeing her going through the same thing right after, with the same exact treatments, seeing the way doctors would treat you and look at you like you're crazy if you're asking for all these tests and blood work, it’s a lonely feeling. Helpless feeling, sometimes.”

With her son’s insistence and newly gained expertise on cancer, Laxmi asked for bloodwork to be done. After initial resistance from doctor’s, results revealed that not only was her iron low, which is common in many middle-aged women, but that she had a critically low amount of blood in her body. The solution from doctors was to give her iron pills and a blood transfusion.

“But they weren’t looking into why she was losing blood, Shoker said. “They gave her the transfusion and just let her go, kind of dismissing that there had to be some sort of reason why she had lost all the blood in the first place without her having any wounds or bleeding out. Eventually, they started looking a bit deeper after she was low and blood. We all started asking, ‘Where did all the blood go?’

One endoscopy was all it took to find a large tumor in the stomach.

“Again, just like my situation, if we didn’t keep asking questions and insisting on things, who knows what would’ve happened,” Shoker said.

The story of Laxmi going through the same process as her son has similarly captivated the online world, where Shoker has nearly 72,000 followers and 6 million views between Instagram and Tik Tok.

Shoker explained he was more fearful for his mother, 59, as he knew the toll that chemotherapy and other treatments took on a young man like himself.

“It’s like I’m on the flip side of things, reliving everything,” Shoker said. “Her oncologists and my oncologist are the same guy, her appointments and my appointments because I'm still technically a patient, are overlapped on the same day sometimes because it's an hour long drive to Merced, and the people there are nice enough to schedule us together so we don't have to make two trips. It’s just a crazy process.”

It’s a rare situation. According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, 5 to 15% of cancers are linked to genetic conditions, and according to the National Institute of Health, about 6.9% of children with cancer have a first-degree relative (parent/sibling) with a cancer history, but the increased risk often disappears once hereditary syndromes are accounted for.

But the Shoker’s have much different forms of cancer, and them being diagnosed almost a year apart is almost unheard of, so much so that Dr. Thomas Fiero of Merced broke down in tears when he heard their story, in a video that has amassed millions of views on social media.

“As I mentioned a few months ago, I’ve met so many people through the power of the internet, and each person has such unique struggles, and this was just another crazy story,” Shoker said. “And it’s a place you go for support, when you have those lonely and hopeless moments.”

It was Shoker’s goal to inspire and build a community during his bout with cancer, and his aspirations have only grown now that his mother is battling.

“I had built a good following with my music career, and now I’m pretty much known online for my cancer and the cancer in my family,” Shoker said. “With my mom getting cancer, I just feel like I’m even more obligated to make this my purpose, to help support others emotionally and spread awareness of how to deal with the treatments and advocate for yourself in the doctor’s office.”

It’s why next month, Shoker will launch a cancer support group named “Surviving the Shock,” which is a play on words on his social media handles, @ibeshocker.

“It will be talking about the shock that you get when you're diagnosed with cancer, because it is a huge shock because nobody expects it to happen to them. It's always something that you hear about, and you never really know too much about it until you or somebody you know gets affected by it. You don’t know what treatments you’ll go through, certain terms, how your body will be affected, the financial burden, it’s a big unknown that you walk into with a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of times, fear.”

The support group will live on the platform Discord, where folks can discuss specific topics relating to cancer. Content will then be shared on sites like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, with moderation taken care of by Shoker’s friends from around the world that he connected with on the internet over their cancer journeys.

“I pretty much have had it set up on Discord where people can submit their stories through like a Google form and I would be doing interviews with those people on live streams, as well as having the Discord lounges and chat rooms for people to connect with each to talk about their experiences, as well as ask questions or seek out advice.”

As Laxmi continues her own bout, Shoker has had the same optimism as when he was recording himself going to appointments and on the hospital bed.

“My mom's really strong. She's a fighter, for sure, and she has been through the ringer,” Shoker said. “It really sucks to see her go through everything I went through, because I know how hard it is, but I know she’ll get through this.”