Jim Galvanek

What cancer has taught me

"I think it took me the better part of seven years to get it — to understand the full ramifications of what it meant to have cancer, and what it means to be a cancer survivor.

My diagnosis was something hard to accept. Cancer? Not me … that stuff happens to other people — people I read about in the newspaper or see on the news.

I like to keep a picture of me without hair, from when I was going through chemotherapy. When I get down, I look at it and I tell myself, 'Man, it's a good day today.'

Do I think about cancer? I don't worry about it. I had cancer. You have got to accept it. It's part of you and you can't forget about it. It's always good to be reminded of how lucky I have been post-transplant, so I never take my health for granted again."

Jim Galvanek, architect, family man, athlete. Cancer survivor. Currently in training for the Lake Placid Ironman. The distance: 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, 26.2-mile run. The goal: raise awareness and money for cancer research. To read more about Jim, a former Hutchinson Center patient, and his personal struggle overcoming chronic myelogenous leukemia, visit his Web site at www.dayzerotoironman.org.