This week, my radiation oncologist officially released me from his care.

For those that may not know, I had surgery to remove a portion of my bowels – where my tumor was originally located – on June 27. The pathology came back negative for any signs of cancer. The radiation and chemotherapy completely killed my cancer, not just in the lymph nodes but completely. I had the second part of the surgery – to reverse the colostomy that was required so the rest of my bowels could heal – on Aug. 27 and I’m still recovering from that surgery, but all of the prognosis from my doctors has been nothing but solid.

I’ve said it over and over, but I cannot thank everyone for all the kind of words, prayers, kind gestures and help that has been offered and given to my family and I over the past year. This has been the toughest thing I’ve ever had to face in my life and I definitely underestimated how tough the entire process would be. All of those words, prayers and gestures played a part in helping me through it, along with having my wife, family and friends by my side the entire way.

Now, I have to start looking forward, which is something that I realized this week I hadn’t really put much thought into. When you have something as scary as that word cancer in front of you, the thought of looking at anything past that doesn’t really happen.

I’ve had a lot of people even offer suggestions, ranging from everything to writing a book – a goal that I’ve put off for a long time – to just enjoying life. In fact, this was a big part of my appointment with my radiation oncologist this week.

Dr. Hejal Patel is an incredibly well-respected, and award-winning, doctor in his field and he’s also a cancer survivor himself. In fact, his story has been featured in both local and national media. It was Patel that really drilled in my head, “what’s next?” He told me that he wasted years of his life being stressed and worrying about if and when his cancer would return. I hadn’t even told him that it was something that has weighed on me from the start. It’s gone, but when is this thing going to rear it’s ugly head again?

Whether or not any form of cancer ever returns to my body is not something I can control. Dr. Patel told me I have to enjoy life, I have to find the things I love and embrace those things and enjoy them, rather than wasting years worrying about something that may never – and hopefully will never – return.

When he asked me if I had any hobbies, the first thing I blurted out to him was comic books. Since I was a kid comic books have been an escape for me. It all started because of my mom, when I was very, very young – before school – she wanted me to learn to read. She chose comic books to teach me how to read, specifically Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman, because “come on” what child in the early 1990s wasn’t obsessed with both of those things?

Ever since then I’ve been obsessed with comics. Along with those I already mentioned, Steel, Captain America, The Avengers, Nightwing, Spawn, Star Wars and countless others have been the escape I used anytime I needed. My mom was another part of that, when she passed away in 2021, I think I bought 100 new comics during those weeks and months following it. For the 30 minutes or so I read a comic, I didn’t have to think about how one of the best people I would ever know would no longer be there. Much to my wife’s annoyance, our shop is littered with about a dozen huge long boxes full of comics.

That isn’t my only escape, though, because there’s also pro wrestling and football. Wrestling is there for me every week on television and has been there since my childhood, too. Football, though, I get the benefit of covering for a living, which makes it even better. I’m still unable to be at games – primarily due to the wound I have that’s still healing – but the thought of sitting up in the press box at Veterans Memorial Stadium, making a long trip to a playoff game and snapping off a few pictures at a game this fall is something that I am very much looking forward to.

So, what’s next for me? I’ll be reading comics, watching wrestling, enjoying covering football, maybe even writing a book, adventuring some more with my wife, hopefully spending more time with my family and friends than I have in the past few years and the most important thing of; being cancer free.