KENNEWICK -- Cancer is an insidious disease with many faces. This month, we will bring you "Faces of Cancer" -- daily stories of cancer and how it changes the lives of Tri-Citians.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and while it is important to raise awareness for one of the most common forms of cancer, we have decided to highlight many cancers and how they affect our community.
Each day, we will bring you stories of triumph and sorrow, of people fighting for their lives and of those who fight alongside them.
I approach this as a cancer survivor, so I will start this series with my story.
Three years ago, my world was turned upside-down and dumped on the ground: I was diagnosed with stage-4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma -- and a rare variant of it called T-cell, diffuse B-cell.
Rather quickly, a mediport was installed in my chest, and I started a heavy regimen of chemotherapy. My doc was straightforward with me: What I had was bad, and I had little chance of making it.
Cancer doesn't care who it afflicts. It didn't matter that I'd become a father just a year before. It didn't care that I had plans that didn't include dying.
But I chose to live.
After six arduous chemo treatments, I was declared cancer-free and moved on with my life -- with a much different perspective along with that new lease.
Read more about my journey at www.tricityherald.com/thebigc.
* This is the first of a monthlong series on Mid-Columbia residents touched by cancer.
