----- I have a cat. Apparently there's a thing called his "[gotcha day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotcha_Day)", which is the day he came into our lives, a day to be celebrated every year. Well, today isn't my cat's gotcha day. Today, June 21 2023, is the day one year ago I brought home cancer. On this very morning as I write this, 365 days ago, my wife and I were standing in our kitchen. We uncomfortably stared in pain at the tile floor, and then into each other's eyes over and over with confusion and fear, seeking answers to "how?!" and "why?" To say it's been a hell of a 365 days would be a bit of an understatement. CancerPlan.org is a testament to just what kind of hella it's been. I'm too tired to come up with an eloquent piece on how it's impacted me and those around me. Instead, today I'll give you a visual tour of the past year instead, and let that tell a story. \   \ As you can see my body went through quite the transformation. Chemo kicked the shit outta me, and this photo doesn't come close to how scary I looked in real life. I felt and looked like the walking dead, and it hurt my family to look at me like that. But I'm gaining the weight back now and hope to be close to where I was at the beginning of all this. What's next in the story? More surgery for one, to get this goddamn bag off me and repair the hole in my belly. That can't come too soon. And then, it's the rest of my life in the ranks as a survivor of cancer. I'll make a pledge to my family on this day to do better than I had leading up to my gotcha day. Somehow the things I did (or didn't do) to my body and environment got me into this cancer mess. So I've got to do and be better, plain and simple. And, I pledge to keep sharing my story, my learnings, and my data here on this site with anyone who's interested, in the hopes it saves someone a little time or suffering.