1928: "Seven Years"

[dash]

Title Text: [hair in face] "SEVVVENNN YEEEARRRSSS"

Touching. And inspiring.

[Heimhenge]

Yeah, inspiring indeed. Thanks for sharing Randall, and you both have a great holiday.

[CzarMatt]

"A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language."

A strikingly poignant entry into the first and my favorite descriptor of xkcd.

[flymousechiu]

omw to my first gallon



wish everybody the best of luck

edit: advocating for platelet donation. it is needed for a variety of purposes INCLUDING replenish platelets after a chemotherapy and is always in constant demand because it can only be kept for no more than 5 days, and a shortage is incoming as people tend to not ne as outgoing during the holiday seasons. visit redcrossblood.org to learn more.

and ps: is panel 11 the wolf's den in white mountains national park? it surely does bear resemblence to that attraction on the trail by liberty gorge.

[HES]

Previously on xkcd:


Five more big years. Yay!

[Evadman]

The feels are real with this one.

[Hiferator]

You forgot the title text: [hair in face] "SEVVVENNN YEEEARRRSSS"

[rhomboidal]

If The Ring had been about a girl staring up at a total solar eclipse, it would've been a lot less scary. Unless she was staring pre- or post-totality without proper protection. Just the idea of it TOTALLY terrifies me.

[texd]

The feels are real with this one.

[SparkOut]

Touching, poignant, inspiring... all insufficient adjectives to express my feelings for this one.
I wish a joyous holiday for you and hope there are many more milestones and -versaries beyond the next total solar eclipse.

[dash]

You forgot the title text: [hair in face] "SEVVVENNN YEEEARRRSSS"

Thanks. 1st time it fell to me to do...

[fabianmontescu]

Congratulations, wishing you many more happy years together.

[edo]

First thing: Best wishes to Randall and his wife. Maybe I'll see them in 7 years in Burlington, VT or at Niagara?

Second thing: 20AUG2017 after the eclipse looks like a beach... are those palm trees or wind mills? If the former, maybe I missed them by that much this last time

[Soupspoon]

May it be at least one more solar eclipse (relatively local) and two mercurial transits (international travel may be necessary).

[sfmans]

Congratulations and best wishes to you both!

[chris_blues]

Wow! This one got me deeply!

After staring at the comic for some minutes, I read the advertising line above. Went straight to the site and got bummed: only credit cards. Nothing else. Too bad, I'd like to help out, but don't know how. Any advise on alternative methods?

Thanks and all the best!

chris

[saengerbeatle]

I'm really happy for you guys. Great to hear that you are doing so well and thank you for sharing this with us.

[flamewise]

I came here to say I read the first three rows and feared that last panel.

While I was glad I was wrong I feel compelled to implore everyone: Please, PLEASE, enjoy your lives because, one day, it may possibly end.

I figure there is no point in getting into a car if you worry too much about traffic accidents, and it's the same for relapse.

[casanunda]

Best wishes for the decades to come.

[ethele]

I've had a lot of experiences with being around cancer since the comic that was written five years ago, including working at a company that makes software for oncology clinics and a family member diagnosed with non-smoking lung cancer (5-year survival rate: Low enough that we're counting on it being 5 years out of date). The impact of the first one was deep, but this one was deeper for me.

A new medication for non-smoking lung cancer was approved just a couple of months before my cousin built up resistance to her previous medication. I learned about it at work, and then heard that she was on it a few months later. It's probably bought her another 10 to 15 months. It's possible she could lose her resistance to the first medication and be able to use it again and get another year when she starts resisting the second medication. Maybe by the time she starts to resist that again, they'll have a third medication approved for her. In the meantime, she's living as much of her life as she can - including lessons in flying a plane (her husband is a pilot).

Here's to out-of-date survival rates... may the subsequent 5-year rates prove to be much higher, for all forms of cancer! And here's looking forward to the 14 years comic after the next eclipse.

[rmsgrey]

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

[mschmidt62]

It is often that I read this comic and wonder how things are going. I am so glad they are going well! Thanks for keeping us updated. Happy holidays!

[XbHW_TestEngr]

WoooHooo! I am so happy for you two ... Thank you!
... "they made some optimistic assumptions about your hobbies" ... LOL!!! (I remember when Nancy became fearless.)
... "I'll do my best." .. "It's a date." ... tears.

Your survival heals that part of me that broke when she died.

... stage 4, age 31 ... got caught in one of those exit Lanes at 3 years (1992). http://xkcd.com/931/

Continue living life ... continue loving ... I'm rooting for you both.

[Samik]

This was nice to see. Hope everyone here is well.

[Runningguy]

I have never posted before. Just the read the comic. I want nothing more than to say thank you to Randall.

Today I found out my mom's cancer back after 2 years. It does not look good. This made me smile thinking about the happy memories I can still create with her and that have been made in the past 2 years.

This comic made me cry in happiness in a time of great sadness.

[niky]

I shed a tear.

That was beautiful.

And congratulations.

[addams]

Seven Years...?
Good Job!

I've had three.
I'm still counting.

Seven?
We'll see.

[Wee Red Bird]

I'm not crying.

I'm just chopping onions.

Nothing to see here.

*waves fist as the sky* There better be another happy one in 2024.

[GulliNL]

I've traveled all the way from 1981 to tell you; I am happy for you guys and I hope there will be many more years for the both of you.

Every now and then I check whether there is a new "What-if" and I can get a little disappointed by the lack of updates. But then I think about the fact that you have things on your mind that are WAY more important than my 15 minutes of work evasion behavior and I just hope everything is well. Glad to see the update!

[eRDe]

It is now 10 years for me and 9 years for my wife. Going through this myself and 11 months later again with my wife has been a tremendous experience which has a big influence on our lifes still. And besides the obvious pain and fear and and and and... it gave us a huge gift. Going through this together put us so close like maybe 60 years of marriage could do in normal circumstances. We know that we can rely on each others under any circumstances and we are there for each others. So, we are very thankful for this experience even though on the other hand we would have liked to skip it.

Thanks for this great cartoon, it covers somes aspects of cancer pretty good and made me shed a tear or two of gratitude.

And for those of you, who are going through it right now, our thoughts are with you. And we hope, someday you will find your gift which maybe hidden in there somewhere.

R&D

[kryton]

Beautiful!!!

[JGeezer]

Thank you, Randall, thank you. The memories of the special extra years we had have been flooding back. Thank you.

[wumpus]

Regarding a strip from SMBC, "I don't care if curing cancer is like curing virus. It needs done".

- you might want to cure virus as well. And maybe deliver me a pony.

[cheezehog]

What a great story; Merry Christmas to you both

[LtPowers]

Randall, you're cordially invited to my house for Eclipse 2024. No guarantees on cloud cover, though.


Powers &8^]

[dargles]

Hi, Randall (and folks).
I just wanted to say thank you for an uplifting and encouraging comic today. I remember when the cancer first struck and your comic strip reflected some of the struggles you went through.

Also, it was a help to us when our daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia and given a 50/50 chance of seeing the end of the year. Our daughter recently celebrated her "5th stem cell birthday" and is still fit and healthy!

So here's to the next seven years...

Regards, David (UK)

[TimeLurker]

No shame in this, I have a tear or two on my cheeks.

So happy for the two of you. We love you Randall!

[hgoldner]

First XKCD strip to ever make me cry. Best wishes for you both. And warm thoughts for those who have not been able to make that trip.

[Herbie]

Thank you, Randall, for the update.

I had been wondering, in the shower-thoughts "haven't heard anything in a while, hope everything's ok" sort of way, how you two were faring.

Going to give my wife an extra hug tonight and take time to be glad for our time.

[johnacraft]

Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Munroe. May you have a long and happy life together.