I never planned to become a cancer advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I certainly never planned to build a platform around prostate cancer, caregiving and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonesing for the Journey was supposed to be about a different adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then life handed us another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a while, that story belonged only to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our changing plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But something began happening when I started talking openly about what we were experiencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some were newly diagnosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some were years into treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some were caregivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some were terrified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some simply said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThank you. I thought I was the only one feeling this way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s when the purpose began to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I realized our story didn’t have to end with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe the difficult things we were learning could make someone else’s road a little easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe another man would ask his doctor one more question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe another caregiver would feel seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe another family would realize they weren’t navigating this alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That became the heart of Jonesing for the Journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not pretending everything is okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not promising outcomes we cannot promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not telling someone what treatment they should choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simply saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is what happened to us. Here is what we learned. Here is what we wish we had known. Maybe something in our journey can help you with yours.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Purpose doesn’t erase pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it can change what pain produces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A diagnosis that disrupted our plans eventually created conversations we never imagined having.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It connected us with people we never would have met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It gave us an opportunity to advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To educate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To encourage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To share hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And perhaps most importantly, to remind people that their voice matters in their own healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the phrases that has stayed with me is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes you have to take an active interest in your own rescue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s what this Mile Marker represents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moment the journey became about something larger than our own cancer story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moment pain began turning into purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Turning Pain Into Purpose and Impact I never planned to become a cancer advocate. I certainly never planned to build a platform around prostate cancer, caregiving and hope.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,34],"tags":[26,29,24,28],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mile-marker-journal","category-podcast","tag-ask-one-more-question","tag-cancer-journey","tag-our-story","tag-paying-hope-forward"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions\/174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}