2009 brought with it quite a surprise: cancer. I decided to start this site to chronicle my journey through treatment and, hopefully, health.

I have two goals with sharing my story.

First, there's the selfish side. I have a lot of emotions and thoughts going through my head right now, and I need an outlet for them. This whole process happened very quickly and I’m still trying to understand what it all means. The diagnosis was scary but it also immediately changed how I thought about everything else. Whatever the future holds over the next few months and years will undoubtedly have a profound effect on me for the rest of my life, and I want to make sure I properly explore these thoughts and emotions. I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to go through this and not come out of it a better and more enlightened person.

Second, there are others out there are and will go through the same thing I’m dealing with now. I have wonderful doctors who I trust immensely, but my doctors haven’t been through it themselves. They can explain to me what it all means medically, but I’m not sure they can really help me in terms of what to expect mentally and emotionally and even physically. By exploring those things here, I hope that I can help others who are in my situation in the future. (And, if you’ve been through this yourself and want to help those of us by sharing, please contact me).