Acknowledgements

No memoir of cancer is written by one person.

To Leslie: you lived every stage beside me. You carried information, responsibility, uncertainty, hope, fatigue, and love. You remained my partner when leukemia tried to turn our life into a medical schedule and took away my emotional capacity to show love. Any account of my endurance is incomplete without your courage.

To my family: thank you for the countless ways you showed up; adapting, waiting, helping, encouraging, and reminding me that the hospital room belonged inside a much larger family story. Thank you for every message, visit, meal, laugh, prayer, song, t-shirt, and act of love. Thank you for keeping the dinosaur, rubber chicken, and other family conspiracies operational.

To the Mountain Crew and wider cheering squad: thank you for holding the ropes. You prayed, listened, drove, provided meals, organized, encouraged, and remained present. You made the burden lighter.

To the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, transplant coordinators, laboratory professionals, researchers, support staff, and everyone at Juravinski Cancer Centre: thank you for joining expertise with compassion. You treated leukemia, managed transplant, responded to complications, and continued to see the person living through it.

To blood donors: your anonymous generosity entered my body and sustained me through chemotherapy. The gift reached a real hospital room, a real patient, and a grateful family.

To my anonymous stem cell donor: you registered without knowing my name. You answered when called. Your cells crossed distance, entered my body, grafted, and began producing blood. Your gift became part of the reason I am still here. I may never know your name, but I will carry the evidence of your generosity for the rest of my life.

To those who prayed: thank you for carrying words when mine became few.

To every patient and caregiver travelling a similar road: you do not have to perform strength every day. Weakness does not erase dignity. Fear does not cancel faith. Receiving help does not make you a burden.

And to Christ, who was present before the enemy had a name and remained present through every stage afterward: thank You for healing grace delivered through medicine, research, community, truth, humour, generosity, and love.