Man preparing for brain surgery asks people to join him for workout Wednesday

MENOMONEE FALLS (CBS 58) -- A local man preparing for brain surgery Thursday is asking people to join him for a workout before his surgery. 

Timothy Hoehnke has been on a long journey with cancer. 

Through it all, he says working out has kept him going, kept him happy as he lives through what he calls an endless roller coaster. 

"You never know what tomorrow brings so today’s a good day for me," said Hoehnke as he shared what the last decade, plus has been like for him. 

He was 16 when he went to the doctor for strep throat. 

"He said you should go to Children's Hospital. I came out with leukemia and strep throat."

Hoehnke's wish from Make-a-Wish was to cover part of his college tuition. His goal was to graduate from college.

"Even with all of those hurdles that I had, I had made this promise to myself," he said. 

He was on his way, when in 2013, he suffered a grand mal seizure. 

"It ended up being a brain tumor."

Despite surgeries and treatments, five years later, in May of 2018, he graduated with a degree as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. 

"That was probably the proudest moment of my life to walk across the stage and get that diploma," said Hoehnke. 

The next day he learned, the brain tumor was back. 

"When I was younger going through chemo, I just looked up to the ceiling, I kept seeing new patients and it was hurting me I was 16, 17 going through and I looked up to the ceiling give me a cancer twice so a kid could live a normal life," he said. 

Cancer has returned for him again, and again, but it has not stopped him from appreciating every good day that comes his way.

"I look at it this way, this has been like a 12 year journey for me, this is the life I was chosen to live."

Hoehnke is asking anyone with a Planet Fitness membership to join him at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Planet Fitness in Menomonee Falls on Appleton Avenue for one last workout before brain surgery Thursday. 

He asks people who can't make it or who don't have a membership to work out and share photos with him. 

You can share the photos on Facebook under an event titled "One Last Workout Before Surgery" by clicking here.