Opinion: What my kidney cancer is teaching me about serendipity and persistence

During the height of World War II, an artillery shell fired by German forces landed 10 feet from my grandfather. It didn’t explode. Before he died last year, he would take stock at family gatherings and marvel, “Look at all that was possible because that shell didn’t go off.”

I’ve recently learned that sometimes the shell actually does explode. Earlier this year, I was diagnosed at the age of 33 with an aggressive form of kidney cancer. The diagnosis came suddenly after excruciating back pain and seeing blood in my urine led me to have a CT scan one Friday afternoon. It was only in hindsight that I appreciated the significance of the last month’s unexplained weight loss and night sweats.

Of the many things going through my mind on the night of the diagnosis, the one that kept rising to the top was, “This was people.