__________________________________________About me:
Hello. I'm Mark Bosworth. I was born and raised in NE Portland, was educated at Hunter college in NYC, and I've spent most of my professional career working for Metro, the regional planning organization as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialist. I'm 53 years old.
I'm a husband to Julie, father to two young women, Kelly and Claire, hero to my dog, Biscuit, and I count scores of friends from here in Portland, and around the world.
I am all kinds of other stuff too of course: I'm a musician (a singer and guitar player); a dedicated bike rider (year round commuter and fairly serious recreational rider); an accomplished cook; kind of foodie and kind of a transit geek.
One thing I'm NOT is a cancer victim. I hardly see myself as a cancer patient even - though the blue gown and the IV pole was working against me for awhile. And, now I'm completely bald, but at least that is chic these days. I am a happy, successful person. My doctors keep telling my I'm "young and healthy"!
I consider myself a very lucky guy actually.
I am undergoing treatment for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This is a recurrence of a previous condition. I was originally diagnosed in September of 2008. After many months of chemo-therapy I enjoyed almost two years of remission. My recurrence was fairly unusual - the symptoms manifested in my eyes only - so this occurrence is considered a central nervous system (CNS) relapse. (more gory details on request).
The last 9 months I've been through a battery of tests and treatments. Including radiation and injections and high dose chemo-therapy. Recently, I completed a successful Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). This is considered the best path to take to insure a good long term outcome for this disease. I am currently recovering at home - taking baby steps to build back my immune system and strength. I feel more and more "myself" everyday, and am contemplating my return to my normal activities soon.
About this blog:
If you are viewing this page, you've probably been invited to follow this blog to keep track of my status through the next few months of treatment and recovery. Julie and I will be posting here to keep you informed and to let you know how the process is going.
I invite you to contribute: comments, observations, quotes etc... just click on the little blue (COMMENTS) link at the bottom of each post.
And thanks for your support!
Mark
