Inspirational Stories

I’ve always been very healthy and active. I worked for one company most of my life and never called in sick for 18 consecutive years. I was a cyclist and triathlete competing in over 50 sprint races and a couple of international distance races. When I turned 70, I started feeling fatigued but thought it was just part of getting old. I only saw the doctor once a year because I was never sick and had no other symptoms. When my annual checkup came around, we did the usual routine and bloodwork. The next day I got a call from the doctor’s office telling me to go straight to the ER for a blood transfusion! I was critically low. That’s where it all started, and to make a long story short, how I got where I am today. 

I was in the hospital for a month going through the induction phase of treatment. Before I left the hospital, I was advised I had a decision to make. It was between quality of life and quantity of life. We have no children, so the prospect of finding a good donor match was not very good. After learning more about the situation and discussing it with my wife, I decided I wanted quality over quantity. In December of 2024, it will be two years since I began this journey. I’ve had my good days and bad days but overall, more of the good ones. I’m still getting treatment every six or eight weeks and have gotten used to the cycle. I have found if I just don’t allow it to bother me, I can push myself through. I often remember the advice my drill sergeant gave me, “You don’t have to like it, you just have to do it.”

I’m a guitar player, and when I’m feeling down, I play. When I’m playing, I’m not sick, tired, or in treatment. I’m just an old guy playing his guitar. One of my other passions is photography. I see the composition of the photo differently, the details are more interesting, and the focal points are changing. I know I’m on borrowed time, but aren’t we all from the moment we are born? My diagnosis has given me a new perspective on life and what’s important and more importantly what is not. I appreciate the beauty of a new day and the calm of a sunset more now than ever. I think about the future but no longer worry about it. All worrying would do is take away the joy of today and change nothing about what is to come. My oncologist is quite pleased with my progress and tells me it’s safe for me to still buy green bananas, LOL. So, I guess my best advice is to try to enjoy every day, focus on the good, and don’t let the bad days win. In the words of Toby Keith, “When he rides up on his horse, and you feel that cold bitter wind, look out your window and smile, don’t let the old man in.”