I don’t post much here, but wanted to share this special day with you. This may not seem like a “business” post, but because of the events of 19 years ago, I am the man that I am today. On October 14, 2003, I walked into my orthopedic surgeons office expecting to hear that I needed surgery on my shoulder due to what I thought was a torn rotator cuff. Instead the MRI slides and notes showed that there was severe necrosis of my shoulder and upper arm. The cause of this necrosis was listed as likely leukemia, lymphoma, or bone cancer. This started my cancer journey. Over the next several weeks it would be determined that I had stage 4 grade 3 follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It had apparently been dormant in my body for at least ten years and just recently turned highly aggressive. The cancer was in my bone marrow and there were tumors in my pelvic area, my abdomen, neck, and upper body. I was told that my cancer was treatable but incurable. I was also told that once in remission, my cancer was likely to return within a few years and when it returned, it would be much harder to treat. I was finally told that the average life expectancy after diagnosis was seven to ten years.
So began my cancer journey. I began six months of extremely harsh chemotherapy, followed by two years of maintenance chemotherapy. I quickly went into remission during the first three months of treatment. What was even better is that during the two years of maintenance chemotherapy, I began doing triathlons and marathons. I was not going to let cancer win.
Needless to say, cancer has not won. It has been nineteen years and I am still in remission. I still run and swim (would love to say I bike also, but really don’t care for biking). I have completed many triathlons, marathons and in April 2008, I finished Ironman Arizona.
Currently, I am advocating for childhood cancer. I am on the National Advisory Council for the American Cancer Society’s Gold Together program. My family I raise funds for cancer research and enjoy meeting and talking to kids and adults who are going through what I went through. I may be the controller for an oiled and gas company by day, but my passion is helping find a cure for cancer, especially in kids. My wife and I have started a publishing company that publishes books written by kids with cancer, or the parents of kids who have had cancer. Our goal is to see a world without cancer.
If you are currently going through the cancer journey, or have a family member or loved one that is, I would love to visit with you, even if it is just to hear your story. If you want to see some of the books that we have published, feel free to visit our website, www.bellasteri.com.
Bill
fnhlsurvivor@gmail.com
