Inspirational Stories

I’m a very simple guy. I’ve worked in the financial industry for almost 10 years, however, my passion is cooking. In 2019, I had just lost 225 lbs. I was preparing to go back to culinary school.

There was a family incident in March of that year, and it put a lot of stress on us. I kept developing a strong workout routine to really help me get on the right track.

At the end of July, I woke up one day with a really bad migraine. I rode it out for a few days until I finally decided to go get checked out at an urgent care clinic. They told me I had the flu. About a week later, I was still sick, and still had a fever, so my best friend convinced me to go back to the ER. They took some blood and told me that I had the flu but just to ride it out a few more days. The next day I got a call from the hospital asking me to come back in for testing. I got to the ER, and they took me right back. Of course, I freaked out.

They told me the possibilities, but I was still very optimistic. It wasn’t until they wheeled me into the blood cancer unit that it began to settle in to what was actually going on. After a couple of days in the hospital, I had a biopsy done. Three days later on August 1, 2019, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I was 31 at the time.

I didn’t know even know how to process it. Truth be told, I had a lot going on at the time, and I had to put it all on the back burner and deal with this. I started chemotherapy the next morning.

I had so much support from friends and family. Luckily my best friend worked at the hospital where I was, and he regularly visited me. My mom would come to the hospital every day.

After a little over 60 days in the hospital and two rounds of induction chemo, I left the hospital cancer-free. But it was still only the beginning.

Over the next few months, I’d go in for about a week of consolidation therapy. My December round coincided with my birthday. I spent my 32nd birthday in the hospital.

When I went back in January, the last round of consolidation therapy got me the sickest I had ever been. I’ll never forget that week. I had back-to-back fevers. It was awful, and I felt like giving up.

Then in February, the day after Valentine’s Day, my doctor told me I was done with chemo altogether. I finally left the hospital on February 22, 2020.

I love and embrace my journey because it created a stronger me. However, going from chemo to having to shelter in place due to the pandemic was an insane beginning to my remission journey. I’m finally at a point three years later where I’ve started to feel like I’m healing. All we can do is continue to persevere.

I share my story pretty publicly on my social media because I often think about being 31, just having a pretty average life, and being tossed this curveball. I will always say this was the worst thing that ever happened to me, however, the strength I learned in myself is the greatest gift to ever receive.