on August 17th 2022 I celebrated 5 years of remission. My oncologist didn’t think I would make it to see one year. But I never let that get in my head. I really think the worst part of having cancer was what saved my life, but that’s a story for another day. I look back on these 5 years and see all the blessings that came out of such a dark time. All the family members who spent hours at the hospital. All the neighbors who stepped up to help my family and friends who were there for random texts and phone calls. There was so much love and kindness. Times when things are at their worst are the times you see the good in people. Even random people. I remember I was in the grocery store one day and a man stopped and asked if he could pray for me, and he did right there in the store, holding my hand. At the time I thought, boy I must look really bad, in all fairness I had no hair and looked like a skeleton. I had a man at the hospital also in the treatment center walking by put his hand on my shoulder and wish me luck with everything. I have carried all the goodness and love with me and spread it around in the work I do everyday. I really believe that in suffering through difficult times we learn strength and understanding in a way that we probably wouldn’t have otherwise. There is wisdom to be gained in struggle and struggling to survive is a great teacher. For me I truly learned patience and contentment in simple everyday things. I was unable to walk for a period of time and in a wheelchair I was unable to leave the house because of needing to be hooked to a machine and I was unable to eat regular food for 5 months. All of these struggles taught me that life can be really hard, harder than relationship troubles harder than financial problems, truly to the core of human existence hard. Making it through all of that has taught me to appreciate everything, everyday, because it’s truly a gift.