MONUMENT, Colo. -- Every morning, Wescott Fire Chief Jeff Edwards wakes up and is happy to be alive. “You never give up; you got to keep fighting,” said Edwards.

His life changed a year ago after he got home from his fifth deployment from the Middle East. “I just wrote it off as having bad food for the last couple of weeks,” said Edwards.

While in Iraq with the Air Force Reserves he began having stomach pains and doctors told him to see his family physician once he got back to the United States.

“When I went home, within 72-hours of my arrival, my abdomen was all distended and bloated. I was retaining fluid, which promoted an emergency room visit,” said Edwards. After several tests, they discovered cancer cells.

“It wasn’t until they went in with a scope, within 10 seconds, the (doctor) went in and my whole pancreas was white and my abdominal wall had small two millimeter modules coating my pelvis toward my lungs,” said Edwards.

He got the bad news: pancreatic cancer.

“It was like hitting a brick wall,” Edwards recalled. “It doesn’t even run in my family,” said Edwards.

He said doctors gave him only three to six months to live. “They told me to go home and get my personal affairs in order. They don’t know me and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s okay. I am going to find somebody else, because I am going to fight this,’” said Edwards.

“There is no treatment, they can’t operate and there is no radiation; the only thing they can do is give you standard chemo,” said Edwards.

He said he got a new doctor and is getting experiment treatment. He also began working out, getting his body into shape for a body building competition. “I’m five months on borrowed time, if you want to say,” said Edwards.

A year later, he continues to set milestones, the latest was coming in second for the “All Natural Colorado” bodybuilding contest two weeks ago. “The docs can only do what they can through research and the science is out there. I am benefiting on being a study that is keeping everything in check,” said Edwards.

He said his cancer is nearly undetectable, and he keeps a healthy and happy attitude about his future. “I am not going to take a dirt nap anytime soon,” he said laughing.

He even keeps an up beat appearance when getting his weekly chemo injections. “I wear my kilt and my purple Pancan shirt and I go up there and share some laughs and some stories with other cancer patients, just to keep them pumped up,” said Edwards.

He said having a positive mental attitude and a great sense of humor helps. “Cancer is not a life sentence, you need to fight back with everything you got,” said Edwards.