In the spring and summer of 2008, I started to notice a bulge next to my right shoulder blade. I didn't give it much attention or much worry between prepping for a July trial and dismissing it as some kind of muscle anomaly from weight-lifting. When my wife noticed it too, I asked my doctor. He said it was most likely a lipoma -- a benign growth common in middle-aged men and women, usually right below the skin. But to be sure, they'd need to biopsy it, and because mine was deep, that would require surgery.
On the way into surgery, I found out the results of the pre-op MRI. The surgeon said it was most likely cancer, a tumor the size of a fist next to my right lung. I knew what that meant. Instead of a benign lipoma, that meant liposarcoma -- a rare cancer that is usually aggressive and often deadly, as it was for my cousin.
I was lucky -- my liposarcoma wasn't. This August will mark fifteen years since my cancer surgery, and fifteen years of being cancer-free, without chemo or radiation. I have a lot to be thankful for, so to celebrate that anniversary, on August 5 and 6, I'm going to ride the Pan-Mass Challenge as a member of Team Big Jon, almost 200 miles to support the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's tireless commitment to finding a cure.
Please celebrate this anniversary with me by contributing to my effort to help those who have not been as lucky as I have.