{"id":621,"date":"2026-09-03T16:22:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/?p=621"},"modified":"2026-09-30T16:26:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T16:26:05","slug":"when-the-story-went-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/when-the-story-went-public\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Story Went Public"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"jftj-mile-marker\">\n\n    <h2>We Had Already Been Telling the Story<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        By the time Sue and I were invited to share our journey with\n        <em>The Patient Story<\/em>, cancer was no longer something we were keeping private.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Jonesing For The Journey had already become a place where I talked openly\n        about the diagnosis.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        The decisions.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Surgery.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Recovery.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Pathology results we were not expecting.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        PSA tests.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Treatment decisions.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And all of those moments when Sue and I looked at one another and wondered:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p><strong>What do we do now?<\/strong><\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n    <p>\n        So when The Patient Story asked us to sit down together and tell our story,\n        there was an obvious question.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        <strong>Why tell it again?<\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I thought about that quite a bit.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        The answer turned out to be much bigger than simply appearing on another\n        YouTube channel.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>They Asked Us to Go Back Before Cancer<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        Most of the time when you&#8217;re living through cancer, the conversation begins\n        with the disease.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What was the PSA?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What did the biopsy show?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What was the Gleason score?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What treatment did you choose?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Those things matter.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But The Patient Story asked us to go farther back.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Back to who we were before prostate cancer entered the room.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Back to the future Sue and I thought we understood.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We had been preparing for retirement.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We had a motorhome.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We imagined traveling the country.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We had a 30th-anniversary trip to Alaska planned.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We had plans.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        A lot of them.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Then cancer showed up.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <div style=\"background:#f5f6f8;border-left:5px solid #d47a2a;                padding:24px 28px;margin:36px 0;border-radius:8px;\">\n\n        <h3 style=\"margin-top:0;color:#082744;\">\n            Before and After\n        <\/h3>\n\n        <p style=\"margin-bottom:0;font-size:1.08em;\">\n            <strong>\n                Cancer has a way of dividing your life into two parts:\n                the life you were planning and the life you suddenly have to navigate.\n            <\/strong>\n        <\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <h2>The Plans Didn&#8217;t Exactly Disappear<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        This is an important distinction.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Our dreams were not automatically erased because I was diagnosed with cancer.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But they certainly looked different.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Dates changed.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Priorities changed.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Certainty changed.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Things we thought we could schedule years into the future suddenly had\n        medical appointments sitting in front of them.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Scans.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Blood tests.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Surgery.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Recovery.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        The next treatment decision.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        The journey wasn&#8217;t canceled.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        <strong>It was rewritten.<\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        That is a lesson I explored more deeply in\n        <a href=\"\/journal\/the-journey-shifts\/\" data-lasso-id=\"140\"><strong>The Journey Shifts<\/strong><\/a>,\n        but sitting with another team and telling the whole story made the change\n        much easier to see.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>Why Tell the Story Again?<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        I kept coming back to something I had been saying almost since the beginning\n        of Jonesing For The Journey:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p>\n            <strong>\n                If telling our story causes one person to ask one more question,\n                then it is worth telling.\n            <\/strong>\n        <\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n    <p>\n        Because one more question might matter.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I felt fine before my diagnosis.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I didn&#8217;t have some dramatic symptom that announced:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p><strong>You have aggressive prostate cancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n    <p>\n        Yet aggressive disease was there.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        That remains one of the strangest parts of this experience.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        You can look normal.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Feel normal.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Go to work.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Make travel plans.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Think about retirement.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And still have something happening inside your body that deserves attention.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        That is one reason\n        <a href=\"\/journal\/the-question\/\" data-lasso-id=\"141\"><strong>The Question<\/strong><\/a>\n        has become such an important Mile Marker for me.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Know your numbers.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Know your history.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Participate in your own care.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And when something doesn&#8217;t make sense:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        <strong>Ask one more question.<\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>Take an Active Interest in Your Own Rescue<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        That phrase became increasingly important to me as the journey unfolded.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It does not mean becoming your own oncologist.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It does not mean assuming your doctors are wrong.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And it certainly does not mean replacing medical expertise with something\n        you saw online.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It means recognizing that the patient has a role in the conversation.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Ask:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <ul>\n        <li>What does this result mean?<\/li>\n        <li>How does it compare with my previous results?<\/li>\n        <li>Why are we comfortable waiting?<\/li>\n        <li>Are there other options?<\/li>\n        <li>Is another test appropriate?<\/li>\n        <li>What should I be watching for?<\/li>\n        <li>What am I not asking that I should understand?<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n\n    <p>\n        Sometimes taking an active interest in your own rescue simply means refusing\n        to remain confused when a decision matters.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>They Weren&#8217;t Interested Only in My Pathology Report<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        One of the reasons The Patient Story felt like such a natural fit for Sue\n        and me was that the conversation went beyond the clinical details.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Yes, we talked about prostate cancer.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But they also wanted to understand:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What happened to our plans?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What happened inside our marriage?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What was Sue experiencing while so much of the attention was focused on me?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What happens when a future you thought was predictable suddenly isn&#8217;t?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Those are cancer questions too.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <div style=\"background:#fff8f1;border-left:5px solid #d47a2a;                padding:26px 30px;margin:36px 0;border-radius:10px;\">\n\n        <p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;color:#d47a2a;font-weight:800;                  text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:1px;\">\n            One Thing Cancer Taught Us\n        <\/p>\n\n        <p style=\"margin:0;font-size:1.15em;color:#082744;\">\n            <strong>\n                Cancer happens in a patient&#8217;s body.\n                The journey happens to an entire family.\n            <\/strong>\n        <\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <h2>Sue&#8217;s Story Belonged in the Story Too<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        If the interview had focused only on me, it would have been incomplete.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Sue was living this too.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        She had fears I couldn&#8217;t see.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Questions she couldn&#8217;t answer.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Responsibilities she hadn&#8217;t expected.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And a future that had changed just as suddenly as mine.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        The caregiver can become almost invisible once cancer enters a family.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Everyone wants to know:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p><strong>How is the patient doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n    <p>\n        Fewer people stop and ask the person beside the patient:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p><strong>How are you doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n    <p>\n        Sue&#8217;s perspective became such an important part of JFTJ that it eventually\n        deserved its own Mile Marker:\n        <a href=\"\/journal\/the-co-pilot\/\" data-lasso-id=\"142\"><strong>The Co-Pilot<\/strong><\/a>.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>Watching Someone Else Tell Your Story Is Strange<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        There was another part of this experience I had not expected.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It is strange to watch someone else organize your life into a story.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        When you are living through cancer, you do not experience it like a documentary.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        There is no narrator telling you where you are in the story.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        You experience it one moment at a time.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        One appointment.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        One phone call.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        One blood test.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        One scan.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        One decision.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        One difficult night.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Then another morning.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        You are too busy trying to get through the chapter you&#8217;re currently living\n        to understand what the whole book looks like.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>Then Someone Put All the Chapters Together<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        Suddenly, Sue and I were looking at our own lives from the outside.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        There were moments that were difficult for me to watch.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Other moments made me smile.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And some reminded me just how much had changed in a very short period of time.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        That perspective gave me something cancer rarely gives you while you&#8217;re\n        in the middle of it:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        distance.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Not emotional distance from what happened.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Enough distance to see that individual appointments and results had begun\n        forming a larger story.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>The Story Wasn&#8217;t Really About Cancer Alone<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        Cancer was obviously at the center of the interview.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But watching it back reinforced something I had gradually been realizing\n        about Jonesing For The Journey.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        The story wasn&#8217;t simply:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p><strong>Mike got prostate cancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n    <p>\n        It was also:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What happens when life does not follow the plan?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What happens when the person who normally feels strong suddenly needs help?\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What happens to marriage when both people are scared?<\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What happens to the future when certainty disappears?<\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And perhaps most importantly:<\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p>\n            <strong>\n                How do you continue living while the answers are still unfolding?\n            <\/strong>\n        <\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n\n    <h2>I Started Understanding What JFTJ Was Becoming<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        When Sue and I first imagined Jonesing For The Journey, this wasn&#8217;t the\n        journey we thought we would be documenting.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We pictured retirement.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Travel.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        A big motorhome.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Open roads.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        New places.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Adventures after years of working and planning.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Then cancer changed the road.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But somewhere along the way I realized:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        <strong>The journey didn&#8217;t disappear because the destination changed.<\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        In many ways, that realization became\n        <a href=\"\/journal\/the-purpose\/\" data-lasso-id=\"143\"><strong>The Purpose<\/strong><\/a>\n        behind what JFTJ was becoming.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>Cancer Can Put Life on Hold Without Asking Permission<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        There is a trap I have noticed in myself.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I&#8217;ll relax after the next test.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We&#8217;ll make plans after the next scan.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I&#8217;ll feel better once I know the PSA.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        We&#8217;ll get back to normal after treatment.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I&#8217;ll start living again once I know everything is okay.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Except cancer does not always give you a clean moment when someone walks\n        into the room and announces:\n    <\/p>\n\n    <blockquote>\n        <p><strong>Everything is okay now. You may resume your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n    <\/blockquote>\n\n    <p>\n        There may always be another test.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Another appointment.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Another number.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Another question.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>What If \u201cOkay\u201d Never Comes in the Form I Am Waiting For?<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        That question changed something for me.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Because if I wait for complete certainty before allowing myself to live,\n        I could spend an awful lot of whatever time I have waiting.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And that isn&#8217;t the life I want.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It does not mean ignoring cancer.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I will keep going to appointments.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I will keep watching the numbers.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I will keep making treatment decisions.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I will keep asking questions.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But I also want to notice the life occurring between those appointments.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <div style=\"background:#f5f6f8;border-left:5px solid #d47a2a;                padding:24px 28px;margin:36px 0;border-radius:8px;\">\n\n        <h3 style=\"margin-top:0;color:#082744;\">\n            A Different Kind of Question\n        <\/h3>\n\n        <p style=\"margin-bottom:0;font-size:1.08em;\">\n            <strong>\n                Maybe the question isn&#8217;t, \u201cWhen will life go back to normal?\u201d\n                Maybe it is, \u201cHow do I keep living while life is different?\u201d\n            <\/strong>\n        <\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <h2>Maybe We Don&#8217;t Need to Know Exactly Where the Road Ends<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        This is something I am still learning.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I don&#8217;t know exactly where this cancer journey ends.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I don&#8217;t know every treatment decision that may still be ahead.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I don&#8217;t know how every plan Sue and I have will turn out.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But perhaps our job isn&#8217;t to know every mile before we begin traveling.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Maybe our job is simply to make sure we don&#8217;t miss the life happening now\n        because we are staring too far down the road.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>Going Public Changed the Purpose of the Story<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        When a personal story leaves your own circle, something changes.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It stops belonging only to you.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        A man you have never met may recognize his own PSA story in yours.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        A wife may recognize herself in Sue.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Someone newly diagnosed may hear a question they had not thought to ask.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Someone who has been postponing an appointment may finally schedule it.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Someone waiting for a test result may realize they are not the only person\n        struggling with uncertainty.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        That is where storytelling becomes something more than documentation.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It becomes connection.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And sometimes connection becomes action.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        That is part of what I mean when I talk about\n        <a href=\"\/journal\/paying-hope-forward\/\" data-lasso-id=\"144\"><strong>Paying Hope Forward<\/strong><\/a>.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>Sharing Your Story Comes With a Responsibility<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        There is something else I have become increasingly aware of.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        My experience is not everybody&#8217;s experience.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        My diagnosis does not predict someone else&#8217;s.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        My surgery outcome does not predict theirs.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        My treatment decisions are not instructions for another patient.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Telling a patient story responsibly means being honest about that.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I can tell you what happened to me.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I can tell you what I wish I had known.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I can tell you what I asked.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I can tell you what I would ask differently today.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But the goal is not to make your decision for you.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        The goal is to help you arrive at your own healthcare conversation\n        better prepared.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <h2>What I Hope You Take From This Mile Marker<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        You do not have to tell your story publicly.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Some stories should remain private.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Some are shared only with family.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Some with a support group.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Some with one person who needs to hear them.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What matters is not the size of the audience.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        What matters is whether something you learned can help another person\n        travel their next mile better prepared.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        For Sue and me, saying yes to The Patient Story gave our experience\n        a much larger audience.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        But it also gave us something unexpected.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        It allowed us to step outside our own journey for a moment and see\n        what the journey had become.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Not simply a cancer story.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        A story about marriage.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Caregiving.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Plans changing.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Questions.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Fear.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Advocacy.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        Hope.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        And learning to keep living while the answers are still unfolding.\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <div style=\"background:#fff8f1;border-left:5px solid #d47a2a;                padding:26px 30px;margin:36px 0;border-radius:10px;\">\n\n        <p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;color:#d47a2a;font-weight:800;                  text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:1px;\">\n            Roadside Reflection\n        <\/p>\n\n        <p style=\"margin:0;font-size:1.15em;color:#082744;\">\n            <strong>\n                You may not see the story while you&#8217;re busy surviving the chapter.\n            <\/strong>\n        <\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <h2>Watch the Story<\/h2>\n\n    <p>\n        Sue and I shared the larger story together with\n        <em>The Patient Story<\/em>, including the PSA changes, diagnosis,\n        surgery, recovery, treatment decisions, and caregiver perspective.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        <strong>\n            My AGGRESSIVE CANCER Was HIDING Behind a \u201cNormal\u201d Blood Test!\n        <\/strong><br>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/0EV08CMKtYg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"145\">\n            Watch our feature on The Patient Story\n        <\/a>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        I also recorded my reflections afterward about why Sue and I chose\n        to tell the story again and what the experience taught me.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        <strong>\n            What I Learned After Sharing My Cancer Story With The World\n        <\/strong><br>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/fVlWoe_grh8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-lasso-id=\"146\">\n            Watch on Jonesing For The Journey\n        <\/a>\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <div class=\"jftj-read-next\"\n         style=\"background:#f5f6f8;padding:28px 30px;margin:40px 0;border-radius:10px;\">\n\n        <p style=\"color:#d47a2a;font-weight:800;text-transform:uppercase;                  letter-spacing:1px;margin:0 0 8px;\">\n            Continue the Journey\n        <\/p>\n\n        <h2 style=\"color:#082744;margin-top:0;\">\n            What to Read Next\n        <\/h2>\n\n        <p>\n            <strong>\n                <a href=\"\/journal\/the-purpose\/\" data-lasso-id=\"147\">\n                    The Purpose\n                <\/a>\n            <\/strong><br>\n            Read how sharing our own experience gradually became a mission to help\n            patients and caregivers ask better questions.\n        <\/p>\n\n        <p>\n            <strong>\n                <a href=\"\/journal\/the-co-pilot\/\" data-lasso-id=\"148\">\n                    The Co-Pilot\n                <\/a>\n            <\/strong><br>\n            Hear the journey from Sue&#8217;s side and why the caregiver&#8217;s story deserves\n            to be seen alongside the patient&#8217;s.\n        <\/p>\n\n        <p style=\"margin-bottom:0;\">\n            <strong>\n                <a href=\"\/journal\/paying-hope-forward\/\" data-lasso-id=\"149\">\n                    Paying Hope Forward\n                <\/a>\n            <\/strong><br>\n            See how the lessons we received along the road became something we wanted\n            to pass along to the people traveling behind us.\n        <\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <div class=\"jftj-author-box\"\n         style=\"background:#f5f6f8;border-left:5px solid #d47a2a;                padding:24px 28px;margin:42px 0 30px;border-radius:8px;\">\n\n        <h3 style=\"color:#082744;margin-top:0;\">\n            About Mike &amp; Sue\n        <\/h3>\n\n        <p>\n            Mike and Sue Jones are the couple behind\n            <em>Jonesing For The Journey<\/em>, a patient-and-caregiver platform\n            built around real-life experience, honest conversation, practical\n            resources, and the belief that none of us should have to navigate\n            a difficult journey alone.\n        <\/p>\n\n        <p>\n            They share their experience with prostate cancer, treatment,\n            recovery, caregiving, advocacy, and the unexpected changes that\n            happen when life no longer follows the original plan.\n        <\/p>\n\n        <p style=\"margin-bottom:0;\">\n            <strong>Medical Disclaimer:<\/strong>\n            Jonesing For The Journey shares personal experiences for informational\n            and educational purposes only. Nothing on this site should be considered\n            medical advice or a substitute for care from your physician or qualified\n            healthcare team. Another patient&#8217;s experience should never be treated as\n            a prediction of your diagnosis, treatment, or outcome.\n        <\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:1.1em;margin-top:38px;\">\n        <strong>And So\u2026The Adventure Continues.<\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sue and I had already been sharing our cancer journey in real time. Then The Patient Story asked us to tell it again\u2014from the beginning. Saying yes showed me something I hadn&#8217;t fully understood: sometimes you have to step outside your own story before you can see what it has become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":622,"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],"tags":[26,89,86,87,90,27,17,15,88],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mile-marker-journal","tag-ask-one-more-question","tag-cancer-story","tag-caregiving","tag-hope","tag-marriage","tag-patient-advocacy","tag-patient-story","tag-prostate-cancer","tag-the-patient-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621","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=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":623,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}