1 Year Since Battle Began
Exactly 1 year ago today, I nonchalantly read the results of a brain MRI that was ordered as a last ditch effort to determine what was causing my dangerously low sodium and making me so tired all the time.
All it took was seeing the phrase “metastatic disease” alongside the discovery of 3 lesions in my brain, and my life (and how long I might live) flashed before my eyes.
Miraculously, I got fast tracked to have a consultation with a top notch neurosurgeon within days. Based on his reading of all of my other scans and my MRI, he gave me some sort of comfort that he thought I had something super rare (yikes!) that positively was both treatable and unlikely to have actually spread from anywhere else (aka not metastatic aka some hope).
A few days later, a PET Scan confirmed his theory. And on Sept 16, I got 1 of 3 brain tumors removed via surgery.
I spent the rest of 2023 getting treatment every other week. In February 2024, I checked in for what turned into a 5-week stay for an Auto Stem Cell Transplant and some insanely intense chemo that came with a host of side effects. Some of those side effects linger, but they are manageable.
Fast forward to today - 365 days after that scary, life-changing diagnosis.
I have been back to work full-time with my supportive colleagues at Sayari for 4 months. It’s the most rewarding and challenging opportunity of my career. I now manage 7 wonderful people who support all of our Commercial customers in the Americas who are looking to root out forced labor in their supply chains and mitigate other risks.
Most importantly, I am writing this from Maine where I get to enjoy the last days of Summer with my wife and 6-year old. As recently as March, I wasn’t even capable of dreaming that I could do a trip like this by this point. My family means everything to me.
With that, I thank you all so much for your unending support and encouragement. Back to your regularly scheduled programming….
Ogunquit 2024