I was at a cancer conference a couple of weeks ago as a speaker, and one of my co-presenters was Dr. Kian Ang, my old treating radiation oncologist, head of the department at MDACC, and president of ASTRO... certainly no light weight. So since I am catching up with him, I start into my litany of complaints that are post treatment radiation induced... not unlike your list, but more extensive and with some life altering issues like 55% occluded carotids from radiation scar tissue and more. He politely listened to my rant about all the shortcomings that I currently find in my physical self. Then he said to me, " Brian, is it lost on you that you have to be alive to have the complications that you have"? As a stage four, circling the drain when diagnosed patient, who is around 10 years later, lucky by any standards to still be here, I clearly had lost my perspective. Even dealing with people much worse off then myself routinely, I can fall into this. It is not an attractive part of me. It is easy to do if you are not careful.


Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.