Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Knudson
Hi Michael, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I had been working as a Civil Engineer in the twin cities until late in the year 2021. During that time, I was always planning future trips to dream destinations. I was working in the hopes of a succesful career and always planning future vacations.
In 2021, when I was 28 years old, strange sensations started to affect my body. It started as a foul taste and a body wide tingling sensation happening every other day. During a preplanned vacation to Glacier National Park a 21 mile long hike triggered enough strain to make the sensations happen 7 times per day. After a month I was being hit by many other issues like rapid onset nausea, zero appetite, and constant fatigue. The ER I went to diagnosed me with Lymn Disease and gave me anti biotics. The anti biotics did nothing for the symptoms.
Three weeks later I fell to the ground, blacked out, and about to die. I woke up two days later in the Mayo Clinic ICU and learned that I have stage 4 Brain Cancer. They had performed an emergency surgery and saved my life while I was down.
Due to a solid month of having no appetite, sleeping nearly 24-7, and being unable to eat without nausea I had had some muscular atrophy and was left with crutches for about two months. I had lost 40 pounds in the span of the last 4 weeks before my collapse.
There was the grand Irony that for the year before my collapse I had been growing my hair out with the intent of donating it as a wig for cancer patients…. It fell out while I was receiving radiation treatment for cancer. It is worth mentioning that I am back at it again this year and so far no radiation has been used so the hair is sticking around.
When I did my research and asked all the doctors that I met I was faced with a harsh truth: I am likely to die in my 30s.
So all the plans that I had laid out for the span of life were condensed. My bucket list had been moved to the fast tracks.
I needed to spend the first years in Chemo, Radiation, and Test Trails. But after all the frequent visits were done and the doctors gave me a thumbs up I set out.
Due to me being in a situation where I could drop without warning it was always recommended to have buddies when travelling. In the last 3 years I have been on many long adventures.
The Rocky Mountaisn National Park with a group of good friends.
Hiking Yosemite National Park, driving the pacific coast road, camping out in Red wood National Park and Mount Raineer National Park, and strolling through Seattle and San Franciso with my Cousins.
Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii with my parents when they went snow birding. Sky diving, mountain climbing, Surfing, walking along volcanic craters, touring fjords, petting kangaroos, and many more kinds of adventures.
My whole immediate family in greece for my parents anniversary vacation.
Training for and running a marathon next to Loch Ness in Scotland. There were over 5000 monsters there. My sister being one of them.
All while back home I try to learn and practice many skills. Practicing piano, learning to cook a whole list of fun and enticing recipes, creating suits of chainmail and leather jewelry and armor that I may honestly get buried in. Trying to learn to program and taking preliminary chances at writing. All while maintaining the old hobbies of dancing, dungeons and dragons, and meeting with all my friends when I can make it back to the twin cities.
Not to mention going for walks, runs, and long bike rides regularly.
Among all of this i am involved in a Brain Cancer community group known as Brains Together. A group meant to connect patients. Every year they hold a event with a 5k, auction, and on stage speakers. This year I ran the 5k 6 days after the marathon and was then one of the speakers on stage with two other patients of various types of brain cancer.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The struggles are different than the ones that I used to experience in life before the collapse. It was usually schedule conflicts, work deadlines, and similar ordeals in that time.
I had always used to hope for one day finding someone that I loved and married and that we would have kids. That is a difficult hope to try to pursue when I am obligated to tell anyone that I am dating the likelihood that I will die in my thirties. I have tried dating in the past three years but no situation has worked out. And the idea of having a child only to leave them without a father seems too sad for me. I have heard many stories of people that were left because of their diagnosis. That said, I also know many who are still happy and together with their loved one years after the bad news.
Substantial dietary changes had to be made as well. When he doctors give advice I take it seriously so substantial dietary changes have been made. I have not drank since the days before my collapse. I am now always the designated driver for friends and family. In addition, I now check all the nutrient listings on food to find as low of added sugar content as possible. I used to be a sugar craver. That is a thing of the past. It turns out cancer cells eat lots more sugar than normal cells. High sugar diet likely causes faster regrowth.
The career path was of course a major fork in the road. I had enjoyed my career and liked my coworkers. I had only ever expected medical leave to be used if I were in a car accident and unable to use a desk for some time but would ultimately recover. Instead, I was faced with the choice of going back to my career on the low chance that I would be a survivor and have a long life to advance. Or do I make the assumption that I don’t have much time left and stay on the leave. In the end, I had to accept the answer that all the studies and doctors say is most likely. I never went back to work. I cannot help but think on a frequent basis of the other option. The constant “what if?”. But it does not stop me from enjoying the days.
There is a constant fear that is always there. I go in for an MRI every two months to check if the tumor is growing back. For cancer patients in general it is almost universally true to be worried when going in. Worried that this time something will be bad. That the tumor will be back, and treatments will start again.
I have had one of those bad days. Earlier this year in 2024, regrowth was spotted, and I was back on Chemo. But I was fortunate that the Chemo alone was able to take it down. I was lucky. for if I ever get to the point that the meds don’t work, I am likely to die within that year.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I cannot in good conscience refer to this as a professional life or career, it is rather what I have replaced by career with. They are hobbies and passions. They are the interests that drive my life onwards.
Travelling in general is always of interest to me. I love to see the corners of the world catch the eye. Major cities like London, France, and Rome. Scenic areas like the mountains, forests, and shores of both the Us and abroad. When I travel, I try to learn the basics of the native tongues so that I can at least ask for directions. I have yet to achieve any level of fluency though. My next goals are Japan. As well as the Savana and Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa.
Hiking always sits at the forefront of my mind when travelling. I have climbed the tallest mountain in Australia, Mt. Kosciuszko. I climbed Mt. Ngauruhoe in New Zealand, better known as Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. Yes, I had a ring around a necklace during the hike. I climbed a 14000 ft tall mountain with my friends in Rocky Mountain National Park. I climbed the cliff sides next to waterfalls in Yosemite National Park. I climbed Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK five days before the Loch Ness Marathon. I have always loved the amazing view from the top of a peak as you can look as see so afr in every direction. It is not the horizon that determines how far you can see. It is how clear the air is that day. And I always drag my travelling companions with me on these hikes.
In home the drive is my crafting. I’ve tried my hand in countless hobbies and interests from ballroom dancing to rock climbing. From Karaoke to Aerial Silks. Though, above all others, my friends tend to know me best for the blacksmithing, chainmail armor and jewelry that I have made. As well as for the leatherworking and sewing that I added to that skill. I have half a dozen full suits of historically intended clothing made from hand sewn fabrics, stitched leather, and bent steel.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I was sure to treat Covid seriously. I wore masks constantly. Of course, I still do when I or someone else I know has it. I also am sure to stay up to date on the booster shots. I fully accept that it will likely become just like the massive plague of Influenza from over 100 years ago during world war 1. The Influenza tapered down and became the flu that we get annual booster shots for. No longer particularly deadly, but it mutates enough that we need new shots each year for our immune systems to be kept up to date.
My main worry is elsewhere on this front. Covid had an approximately 2% death rate and civilization fell apart for a full year. Many people claimed that it was a hoax and never got vaccines. I am genuinely concerned for when something with much higher death rates emerges. Oddly enough this relates to high egg prices that I always hear people are upset about when the news is on. I truly concerns me that many are not aware that the egg price is high because entire flocks of the chickens are being killed off when they test positive for bird flu. Bird Flu has a 60% fatality rate in humans, it just hasn’t pulled off human-to-human transmission yet.
I’m genuinely frightened of the shock the world will go through when the bird flu pulls off that transfer. Even if we have a vaccine ready to go immediately, I’m worried that many will refuse to get the shot.
