“All of a sudden, I had a standstill. There's nothing there. So, I needed a lot of mental health help in the past year because all the things that I love to do – mud runs, triathlons, working out – I can't do those things anymore.”

JONATHAN PORTER’S STORY

When people ask me where I’m from, I hesitate. Physically, I’m from Texas. I’ve lived here for 20 years, but the place I’ve been a part of longer than anywhere else is the Navy.

I joined the military when I was 20 years old. I started as an undesignated sailor, which basically means I was a handyman. Eventually, I was selected to become a hospital corpsman and have worked for the past 21 years to become a Senior Chief. From countries abroad to Marine bases, I’ve been proud to serve my country.

My career has given me so much – structure, purpose, my wife, tremendous opportunity, comfort. I learned to navigate 10-month deployments while raising a family with my partner, who also had to navigate her own career in the military as a Command Master Chief. I learned to set goals for myself and put plans in place to reach them. It has pushed me to be the best version of myself, and I’ve continually worked to push my body to the next level.

So, when I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, I felt rudderless. I went from providing medical care and keeping people healthy to now being the patient.

There were no more deployments to navigate and no more career milestones to meet. I could not push my body the way I used to. The vision I had for myself, my future, and my family’s future, quickly evaporated. I’ll be honest: I struggled. I still do. What does this mean for my future? My family? My career?

For most of my life, I viewed strength as something physical, visible and expressed through how hard I can push my body. And while I face this internal battle and may have lost a lot of my physical strength, I have a renewed drive to live each day the best I can and embrace everything around me – my family, my memories, my career, my brothers and sisters in the Navy – with all my strength.