OH MY GOD, I’M GOING TO DIE!!!!

My whole life, I knew someone very close to me would get cancer, but never, NOT once, did it cross my mind, that it would be me.

Let’s set the stage, it’s sometime in the afternoon and I’m at work just outside of Washington, DC. I had been spending a lot of time getting blood tests and such to try and determine what was going on in my breaking body. I get an email from my health care provider saying there is a message for me on their portal.

I have to say I was relieved, since I was pretty sure NO place would tell you this over the phone…. SO WRONG. So, I log on and read the email. And re-read it and re-read it…. I am not sure how many times I read the letter, but I was still certain I was missing something.

So, I called my wife who is also an RN. My wife hesitated just one second and I knew, at that point, I had cancer.

Here is a major take-away:

Before I got cancer, if anyone with cancer came up to me and told me they were lucky, I’d have said BS, you have cancer, perhaps an incurable one like mine, how could you possible feel lucky. Well, almost a decade into this fight, I can list dozens of reasons I feel VERY fortunate, here are a few:

1. It was me and not one of my kids, my granddaughter, my siblings, my parents, my friends and loved ones and, of course, my best friend, my wife.
2. I knew what I was feeling, something you don’t know unless it’s you that has cancer. But if it was any of my friends or loved ones, I wouldn’t truly understand their condition and what they were going through.
3. This has helped me change my focus and want to help as many fellow cancer brothers and sisters fight this disease. I learned to love speaking on cancer, being an advocate for others, and helping those who work at pharmaceuticals understand the end result (ME) of their heads down work every day.
4. Most importantly for me, I am so thankful for my fiancée and how she just took over and became my advocate and helped me understand the way forward. When we decided that going south for treatment for 9 months, she said to me, “We are getting married before you go” Not, we should, or let’s think about, or anything like that. It was such an amazing thing for her to do to marry a guy with an incurable cancer.
5. Last, but certainly not least, I am thankful that I also get to be in Clinical Trials. One I was on just came to market and I know, it was in some part because of me. Paying it forward if you will.

My point here is that once you realize that life isn’t fair, that’s when you can take action. Your family, your friends, YOU – that’s what you need to think about now. You do have a lot to live for and there are so many people that love you and want you around as long as possible. It’s not an on and off kind of thing, it will slowly come to you. But it will happen for most of us. And when it does, you can start the best cancer care journey possible.

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Stay tuned for our next blog on CLINICAL TRIALS which will come out on June 12th, 2023.

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With all my respect and admiration, I remain,

Mike

“I’m Alive and Doin’ Fine”