My cancer journey started one day in the summer of 2022 when I discovered what felt like a pimple on the back of my neck. The next day, the “pimple” had vanished, but two weeks later it was back, and this time it didn’t go away. Over just a few days, it grew so rapidly that I finally went to a local hospital to get it checked out.
I started out 2021 as an active, healthy 26-year-old transgender man. I was an avid hiker. I was engaged, and I was on my way to a promotion at my job. But by early 2022, I was also a cancer survivor living with HIV.
I am 78 years old and have owned horses for 68 of those years. I am a cowboy through and through. My father gave me my first pony when I was just five years old and my first horse when I was 10.