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.

  1. It was living in Google Drive, not doing anyone any good.
  2. I wanted to provide people with easy access to my CML story.
  3. 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.