Helene and I always used to say to each other how lucky we are. How lucky we are to share a beautiful family, to live in a community like ours and how lucky we are to be able to provide for our children and do all the things we want to do. Since we have been telling each other how lucky we are a lot of SHIT has happened. I don’t need to nor want to rehash the past few years but those who know us know well that it hasn’t quite been a bed of roses culminating in my cancer diagnosis.

Then – I looked up the word LUCK in the dictionary. Allright … Dictionary.com … but you get the picture. Turns out LUCK is defined as CHANCE. It could be GOOD LUCK or it could be BAD LUCK. Who knew?

One could be IN LUCK or one could be OUT OF LUCK. One could LUCK INTO something or one could be DOWN ON HIS LUCK or PUSHING HIS LUCK. I suppose the LUCK OF THE DRAW was that cancer picked me.

So from now on instead of referring to my LUCK, I am going to refer to my FORTUNE. That is my FATE, my DESTINY. And I will shape that DESTINY with my attitude and my confidence. I am incredibly FORTUNATE to share my recovery with my family, my friends and my community. I am incredibly FORTUNATE that my parents’ plane somehow weathered snowstorm NEMO and landed yesterday so we could share a visit. And I am incredibly FORTUNATE that cancer picked me instead of someone else because I will fight back time and again to beat it and get rid of it. I will fight for all those that cancer could have picked that don’t have the FORTUNE to be strong enough for the fight.

And … today … I am FORTUNATE to live in an era where progress is being made every single day to help me and countless others in our battle. Yesterday the FDA granted approval to POMALIDOMIDE – the latest drug in the fight against Multiple Myeloma. This, along with the approval late last year of CARFILZOMIB (my stuff) marks significant progress in the collective fight of many.

As I said earlier in my journey – fight every day and if you can keep kicking the can down the road long enough – something will happen. Something GOOD will happen.

As I sit here drinking my morning coffee, I think about everyone upstairs sleeping right now – Helene, Victor, Ava, my parents. How FORTUNATE am I to be able to share today with them?

Even being buried in a foot of snow … It’s a great day to fight CANCER … again.