I was in the ICU of the Foothills hospital in Calgary, Alberta. At this moment, 5 years ago I was being resuscitated following a heart attack.

The heart attack was caused by respiratory arrest. The respiratory arrest was the result of having spent the previous 17 hours on anaesthetic, undergoing surgery for advanced cancer.

Going in, I was told I had less than a 15% chance of surviving 18 months. I had been diagnosed a month earlier with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma in my left jaw.

They told me that I would lose part of my jaw; hopefully not all the way to the TMJ, since if that happened, they could not rebuild the jaw. Instead, they would have simply transplanted thigh muscle to restore the "appearance" of having a jaw, although my days of eating solid anything would have been over.

I was terrified...I'd really considered saying "screw it", getting on the bike and go for one last, fast ride. My wife and kids were the only thing that stopped me.

17 hours of surgery...they removed 40% of my jaw, took the entire fibula from my left leg and used it to rebuild the jaw. A big chunk of my left arm became the inside of my mouth, since that all had to be removed because of the cancer.

Skin grafts from both legs to fill all the holes in, a tracheostomy to breathe, drains everywhere, plus an incision needing 40 stitches on my foot to remove the burnt tissue caused by carelessly propping an electro-cauterizer on my foot, and then activating it accidentally.

Then the heart attack, a coma for 11 days in ICU followed by another two weeks in hospital. 8 weeks later, I started radiation and chemo for three months....FAR, FAR worse than the surgery.

A year later and against my Doctor's advice, I returned to work. It was tough for the first six months, but eventually got easier. I regained my sense of taste " sort of"; My life, and our life was completely re-calibrated to the "new normal"...way too many trips to the Doctor, way too many "scares" with a lump, or a bump.

Choking on everything I tried to eat...living off of liquid nutrition drinks for half of my calories ever since.

Sounds pretty shitty, huh? But you know what? I WON!!! I beat that sonofabitch CANCER. We took FAR more away from cancer than it took away from us. I learned to appreciate the little things a lot more, to do what we wanted to do, when we got the urge; no more " we'll do that in a couple of years".

It hasn't been a cakewalk, but it could have been much much worse. A surgery earlier this spring set me back a bit, and I have another to look forward to later on this year when they replace my TMJ due to arthritis. It won't be fun, but I know I can do it

I retired last year on MY terms, not cancer's. I'm starting a new job tomorrow because I want to...I'm getting bored with sitting around. I have a whole new appreciation for my wife, my life, my kids and sometime the middle of next month, my first Grandchild.

Our son is getting married July 1st to a terrific girl. I'll be there with my dancing shoes on.

Life is DAMNED good...DAMNED good.