This is the story of how a family board game helped me heal from cancer, one pun at a time.
In late 2022, I sat in my car and cried. I had just been diagnosed with Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia. It’s a rare lymphoma blood cancer. I was 46, a dad, and a former swimmer and college water polo player. Suddenly, I didn’t know how many years I had left.
Treatment was brutal. Chemo. Nerve damage. Most days, even walking was hard. My world shrank overnight. Everything I thought mattered—career, goals, ambition—just disappeared. I wanted to be with my daughters. I wanted to see them grow up. But I felt painfully alone. Scared. Like the world had moved on without me.
