It feels like just yesterday we had high-microbial foods and a cancer piñata at my five-year remission party, but here we are in 2021...
I often have to look up the actual date of my "remission" anniversary because 1) I didn't realize that it was an official declaration of being in remission, and 2) I had just woken up from anesthesia and was on a 96-hour chemo drip. I just remember it was the day before Thanksgiving, and my doctor happily told me they found no traces of leukemia in my bone marrow, even with the extremely sensitive genetic testing.
My immediate reaction and feelings surrounding my diagnosis were beyond the idea of just, "I'm going to die." I've described it as seeing my future flash before my eyes and all of the things I would never get to do. Ten years later, I find it so meaningful to briefly put myself in that post-diagnosis mindset, and then flash forward through all the things I've done and experienced since then, both the good and the bad. I graduated college. I published a book. I had a suicidal breakdown. I got married. I lost my dad. I got my master's degree. I've raised over $32,000 for the LLS. I've traveled, I've performed, I've worked, I've had fun adventures, and most importantly, I've met so many people and made so, so, SO many friends.
And that last part is what stands out to me the most. There are so many important people in my life whom I never would have met if I hadn't been given this last decade.
And I don't need to say much more other than, thank you. Thank you to God for helping me heal. Thank you to my brilliant doctors for successfully treating me. Thank you to my family, especially my dad, who would work the night shift and drive me in to the hospital every morning. Thank you to my friends who supported me and kept me in their lives even when I couldn't be physically present. Thank you to all the amazing people who have touched my life over these last ten years. These were years that I thought were lost to me in September 2011. But now I'm at a point in my life where I am so genuinely happy, and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the crazy, twisted, incredible road that brought me to this exact moment.
Here's to many more decades to come!
