John David Flinchum was born in Longmont, Colorado. His parents showed halter horses. School nights were not spent with homework and piano lessons, rather they were spent brushing horses. At the age of 10, John became interested in raising and showing sheep in 4-H. The “Horned Dorset” caught his eye because of the big beautifull horns that the rams had. Eventually he began raising “Polled Dorsets”, with no horns. He has been raising Dorsets now for 51 years. His award winning sheep have been shown and sold all over the United States.
In elementary school, John had a teacher that claimed that “being a ditch digger would be his lot in life.” Luckly, another teacher recognized that John was dyslexic, and he got help. In high School, John was very involved in FFA, Future Farmers of America, competing in livestock judging, dairy judging, and equine judging.
Out of high school, John went to CSU to be an Ag teacher. He graduated with the highest GPA (tied) in the Colege of Agrucultural Sciences.
He then went on and got his masters degree in Animal Science. He then was offered a position to work on a PhD in Missouri for Animal Nutrition and in Iowa for Biochemistry. Instead, John decided to apply to the CSU Veterinary Teaching School. On his first try, he was accepted. Few get in on their first try. The first year out of vet school, John worked for a veterinary practice in Calhan, Co, East of Colorado Springs. Then he came home to Longmont and statrted up his own equine and livestock practice.
In 2001, he married Emily. In 2003, when Emily was pregnant with their Son Johnny, she quit her job and came home to run the practice office, and to be a stay-at-home mom to Johnny, and then eventually, Lizzy. Having Emily answering the phone and dealing with the office allowed John to focus more on what he was doing: practicing medicine. This allowed John to become the amazing vet that he is, and his practice really started to grow. He has been practicing now for nearly 32 years.
At the end of June, 2025, John started complaining about the chairs he was sitting on, that they were hurting him and uncomfortable to the point of being painful. So he “Googled” his symptoms and Google said “Bursitis”. For a month, the pain came and went. Then, when his groin went numb, he called his doctor. His doctor thought he had a “slipped disk” and ordered an MRI for the next day. They did not find a slipped disk. They found his sacrum (tail bone) full of cancer. CT scans were ordered of his pelvis, abdomen, chest, and an MRI of his brain. More cancer was found in random vertabre, lungs, ribs, brain, and brain stem. Bone biopsy said “Lung cancer” and genetic test showed a “Her-2” marker. Don’t fully understand all the results, but basically its Stage 4 Lung cancer. Five rounds of radiation have been done on the bone, and 1 round on brain and brain stem. Now its chemotherapy and immunotherapy, done every 3 weeks, with CT scans every 6 weeks to see if the chemo/immunotherapy is working. The last 2 CT scans show that the chemotherapy is working and the tumors are shrinking, for now. PRAISE GOD!
Though it is more important to concentrate on getting John better, we are saddened by the tearing down of the veterinary practice we have spent 31 years to build. He is working some, but we have to be picky about what he can do and how much he does. Likewise, we have been, with a heavy heart, reducing our flock of Prize Winning Sheep of 51 years of selective breeding.
We have been so blessed by everyone who has come beside us with meals, prayers, hugs, support, tears, and words of encouragement. There are times we have cried so much we can’t cry anymore; and then find ourselves crying some more. At other times it feels like a dream, that it isn’t real. We know it’s all in God’s hands, and there is nothing we can do but trust in Him and His plans for John and our family. It’s not John’s diagnosis, it’s OUR diagnosis.