My name is Ken Miller and I was disagnosed with a mediastinal germ cell tumor at the age of 22. I went through about 2 years of chemo treatments, open chest surgery, and other procedures. After my diagnoses, my friends, family, and my then girlfriend stayed pretty much the same. As my treatments progressed, I wasnt able to be there as much for my girlfriend and other friends at the time, and that put a lot of stress on many of my relationships. While I think many understood I wasnt going to be able to be there as much for people, it mentally still takes its toll. Some people started to leave my life, and I ended up breaking up with my girlfriend while still going through treatments. I was lucky, and had some extremely supportive friends and family throughtout my process. For me, my treatment was all in-patient due to the severity of my diagnoses, and I spent many weeks in the hospital. I was lucky enough to have one particular friend Kris, who would make it a point to chat with me on the computer pretty much every morning, Monday thru Friday while his mornings started at work, and on the weekends he would make time to come visit me. My parents and brothers remained a huge part of my support also. Pretty much making sure I had someone with me whenever I needed it.

Some advise I would give, is surround yourself with a base support system, people you can count on, and remeber that even as some of that support system may seem to disappear, and falter, that someone will always fill that void. That might even mean someone unexpected, or someone who is already part of your support system, picking up even more slack. I was fortunate enough to beat my cancer, I have been cancer free for a little over a year now. I also managed to find an amazing girl towards the end of my treatment who I am still with today. She was a big part in picking me back up. She met me at my worst, and has seen me bounce back from my fight against cancer.

I would be more then happy to talk to anyone who is in need, email my personal email address, awdken6@gmail.com. I can always make myself free to help!

LIVESTONG!
-Kenny Miller