I continue to be active in the Sarcoma Alliance group, as I have met many incredible people there. It has been such a comfort and wealth of real-time information while dealing with something that most of the world has never heard of. I treat each battle as a means to win the war and am thankful every morning that I can still fight with all of my Sarcoma comrades.

Every day, including today, is a fight, a fight to get up, a fight to do things, and a fight to find the good in the day.

I feel a sense of joy in my life that others I know who have survived life-altering illnesses have experienced. It’s a joy that says I would not change anything about what I have experienced or who I have become. It is a joy that comes from finding beauty in a wounded place. I adopted a name for this kind of joy from a friend who calls it Radical Joy.

During the worst of it, I thought: I’d do stand-up, if I could stand up. I would take this on the road, but I’d need a driver. One friend says I have gone from being outrageous to courageous. But I’m no hero.