Whatever I might have imagined a terminal diagnosis would do to my spirit, it summoned quite the opposite - the greatest appreciation for life itself. So I will never give up, and I will never give in.

I've already had two stem cell transplants. Very rarely does somebody have a third, so I have to maintain my strength so I can go through this.

I have wrestled gators in Florida. I have sailed the ocean with Ted Turner. I have swam the oceans in the Caribbean.

Like most boys, I had a model train set up in my bedroom, resting on a little-used ping-pong table upstairs.

I think my demise has been prematurely reported. That's what I think. I think I'm going take this and make medical history, and I really believe that.