Hi! We just wrapped up a video shoot for Takeda, the pharmaceutical company that makes my targeted therapy. I’ll get to that in a minute.
Prior to the shoot, the production company asked if I could send them a timeline of my CML journey. I started working on it, pulling together the different pieces of my story. It is below.
I wanted to publish it here for a couple of reasons.
- It was living in Google Drive, not doing anyone any good.
- I wanted to provide people with easy access to my CML story.
- Over the past two days, I’ve been inspired with a few ideas, and I’m going to work on rebooting this blog.
Anyway, it was crazy to visualize how far Katie and I have come.
Everything changed after I made the decision to embrace cancer and seek opportunities through adversity.
So much has happened since I started this blog. Technology has evolved, communication is different.
When I lost all of this blog’s content (I think it’s backed up on an old computer, but the monitor doesn’t work so I need to figure that out), it became overwhelming to update it and life got away from me.
Anyway, I’m going to leave this here. I hope it helps someone.
*January 2006 – Diagnosed with CML (Gleevec)
Early 2007 – Met Katie (became friends)
July 2009 – Katie and I started dating
December 2009 – Moved to Dallas
*January 2010 – Started going to UT Southwestern (Dr. Robert Collins, Gleevec)
*July 2010 – t315i mutation detected (UT Southwestern)
*October 2010 – Started going to MD Anderson. Candidate for Inclusig trial, but no t315i mutation detected during second test (MD Anderson)
*November 2010 – Started second line TKI (Sprycel)
March 2011 – Participated on Bristol Myers Squibb patient advisory board (First time to meet a CML survivor in person)
*November 2011 – t315i mutation detected (MD Anderson, Inclusig trial was closed to new patients)
January 2012 – Katie and I got engaged!
*February 2012 – Enrolled in first clinical trial
*February 2012 – Experienced toxic side effects and stopped first trial
February 2012 – Started writing for MD Anderson’s Cancerwise Blog
March 2012 – Published “Life Through Headphones” on cancerwise.org
April 2012 – Katie moved to Dallas
April 2012 – Published “Unmasking a History of Non-Compliance” on cancerwise.org
May 2012 – Published “What cancer has taught me: emotional health begins with communication” on Cancerwise.org
*March 2012 – Started closed phase 3 Ponatinib (Iclusig) trial via compassionate use
May 2012 – Published “What cancer has taught me: life is a marathon” on cancerwise.org
May 2012 – Became DFW advocate for National CML Society
*July 2012 – Reached Complete Cytogenic Response
August 2012 – Published “The fruit of leukemia: Life-changing perspectives” on cancerwise.org
August 2012 – Katie and Justin got involved with local young adult cancer advocacy
September 2012 – Published “Discovering the nature of hope” on cancerwise.org
*October 2012 – Reached Major Molecular Response
October 2012 – Published “Chronic myeloid leukemia survivor: Life after the finish line” on cancerwise.org
November 2012 – Katie and participate in ARIAD marketing photo shoot
December 2012 – Katie published “Cancer caregivers: “Do what you can do and that’s all you can do …” on cancerwise.org
January 2013 – Published “Getting married after cancer: Guilt is part of the diagnosis” on cancerwise.org
March 2013 – Feature story “Training for a race is well within Justin Ozuna’s control — unlike leukemia” in the Dallas Morning News
Summer 2013: Story published “The Treatment: Improving on Success” in MD Anderson’s Conquest Magazine
May 2013 – Joined Critical Mass: Young Adult Cancer Coalition as social media manager
October 2013 – Katie and I got married! Link to photos
October 2014 – Katie joins Sarah Cannon as an Oncology Survivorship Navigator and Psychosocial Coordinator
December 2014 – Participated in ARIAD patient focus group
March 2015 – Presented at ARIAD National Sales Meeting
March 2015 – Participated in ARIAD Virtual Ad Board
November 2015 – Became Director of Communications at Fort Worth Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Coalition
*October 2015 – Started back at UT Southwestern (Dr. Robert Collins, Iclusig)
May 2016 – Finally graduated college! (Emerging Media and Communications) // Feature story “Cancer survivor graduates from UT Dallas” on WFAA Channel 8
August 2016 – Launched Metamedia Creative Co., a digital marketing agency
December 2019 – Katie and I were featured in a short news story in my hometown.