I was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer in 2011 at the age of 33, and thought my life was over. This is my story of life as a young adult cancer survivor.
Our baby princess Raya is all grown, and currently expecting her first litter of puppies due June 19th. We’re so excited for her, and for the families who will take her puppies home!
It’s been ages since I’ve done much in the way of writing about my cancer journey here, but it’s time to start writing again.
A snapshot of my cancer and faith journeys, and the bridging of two worlds into one centered around God.
I suffered needlessly for years from my mental health issues after cancer. Rekindling my Faith is what ultimately cured them.
The only thing better than having a dog is having two dogs. And the only thing better than taking a dog to the beach is taking two dogs to the beach. :)
So a month with now two dogs. How did it go? Are we nuts? A lot of people we’ve talked to have said we’re crazy for getting another dog, but just remember there’s a fine line between genius and crazy! :)
We adopted an adorable mini Goldendoodle with less than 48 hours notice on January 4th, 2023. Come meet the new addition to our family!
I was raised in the Catholic church, but quickly fell away from the church after leaving home for college in 1996, and have never attended church as an adult. Despite having been baptized and confirmed and doing all of the things a good young Catholic boy ought to have done (except becoming an altar boy, which I refused), I never established a firm connection with either God or the church during my childhood, but have still largely lived a very moral and Christian life. This is the story of my return to Faith, the Church, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I originally wrote this blog for my friend, Justin Birkbichler’s, ABallsySenseofTumor website back in March 2020 as one of his Band of Ballers feature. I had intended to cross-post it here at my own website after a month or so, but with COVID-19 in full swing and a whole lot of disruption in ours and everyone else’s lives, I just burned out and never got around to it. It’s been a year since I’ve done anything on my website, so here it finally is with a few little tweaks and updates to get it up to date! I hope you enjoy this as the first of my 10 years after cancer series of blogs.
Nine years ago this month, I had just finished 4 brutal rounds of chemotherapy fighting testicular cancer, and was on deck for a highly invasive surgery the next month in June. You might be surprised to learn that this was all the “easy” part of my cancer fight. What was hard was overcoming all of the mental health issues that many cancer survivors experience in the aftermath, such as anxiety, depression, and even PTSD symptoms. Learning to overcome all of this at a younger age has perhaps left me better prepared for other challenges in life, including the COVID-19 pandemic, so here are some mental health pointers for Mental Health Awareness Month.
I’ve been pretty quiet and basically AWOL on social media for the past few weeks because I had a really rough go at the end of the year. A grueling work schedule drove me straight into the ground towards the end of 2019, and unfortunately I wasn’t doing myself any favors either, all of which put me into an end of year winter solstice tailspin combined with a complete testosterone level collapse, and a suicidal episode. You can read all about it here. Maybe now I’ll finally learn, and practice what I preach.
As pressed for time as I tend to be on a day to day basis, I can’t not do a photography blog about our recent trip to Italy. By all means, check out the full photo albums, but here I just wanted to share the “wow” photos that I thought were the most interesting or beautiful.
I was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 33 and thought my life was over, but today I’m an 8 year survivor of the disease, and at the age of 41 I’m not even a young adult anymore. Times change, perspectives change, we all grow and evolve not just as cancer survivors but in life itself. At this point I just don’t give a (bleep) about cancer anymore. Here’s why.
A photo tour of our trip to Turks and Caicos in the British West indies with my new full-frame Canon EOS RP camera. Enjoy!
This website is about my 5 month fight against testicular cancer, and my 5 year journey back to life in the survivorship years that followed. From aggressive surveillance schedules, recurrence scares and scanxiety, experiencing the loss of friends and having survivors guilt, periods of depression and post-traumatic stress, and the many physical and emotional struggles that I've faced, to finally thriving today.
This is my journey, these are my stories, this is how I live,
and all that I've learned along the way.
Welcome.
Raya’s First Pregnancy. She’s due June 19th, 2024, and was confirmed pregnant with more than one.