It's been one year since I began writing for The Cancer Blog. According to statistics generated by this site, I've written 27,381 words and 793 posts. If you've been reading for this entire time, you surely know a lot about me. Not only do my posts reflect current news and issues, but they feature all sorts of personal stuff too. When considered together, my work here reflects just about every piece of my cancer journey, my inner most thoughts, my morals and values, my take on the world. But for those of you who haven't been reading for long, for those who have forgotten how I fit into the cancer puzzle, for those who want a recap, here's a rundown on me: Jacki Donaldson.

I was born and raised in Ohio but have also lived in Nevada, Virginia, and Florida -- my current home. My life always went pretty much according to plan -- I lived happily with my parents and one sister, faithfully attended school, went to college, got married, had two baby boys and a series of good jobs, and had just begun commenting to my family members about how lucky our family was not to have been affected by cancer. It seems just as I spoke this aloud, cancer arrived.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer -- stage I, no lymph node involvement, ER/PR negative, HER2 positive -- in November 2004 at the age of 34. My boys were almost four and 18 months old. My world seemed shattered. But now that my lumpectomy, dose-dense chemotherapy, radiation, and year-long Herceptin drug therapy is complete, everything is just fine.

It took almost two years of counseling and anti-depressant treatment for me to emerge from the behind the cloud of cancer. And my mission in writing about my journey is to spread the word: there is life after cancer. And it can be sweeter than ever imagined.

Cancer gave me a wake-up call, a jolt, a reminder that I must make the most of my days. It gave me focus, simplicity, wonder, easy living. Much to my surprise, after first declaring a journalism major 18 years ago, it gave me a writing career. And it is my pleasure to write for you.