Anniversary

Yesterday marked the three year anniversary of my Multiple Myeloma diagnosis. After one round of radiation therapy, five rounds of chemo and two bone marrow transplants I am in remission. Sounds like a lot to squeeze into three short years, but those three years also feel like a lifetime. I honestly don't remember what it feels like to not have cancer. This disease and the fight to overcome it has, in many ways, come to define my life. Perhaps it shouldn't, but the disease become so all-encompassing that having take over your life seems almost inevitable. Yes, this disease can define many things, but it only matters if you let it stop you from living, and that I will never do. I will never stop living because of this disease. If I were to sit back, and let cancer put me in a box, keep me from doing things, keep me from living, then the disease wins. That will not happen. I plan on beating this disease, and beating it completely. As long as I keep living, as long as I don't let cancer stop me having a life, I win. If I keep going I win, I beat this disease, no matter what happens.
Deacon John
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Dec. 8, 2010
St. Peregrine, Pray for Us
Blessed John XXIII, Pray for Us