Five days after surgery, I received this phone call from my urologist. Yes, I am 25 years old and I have urologist. Yes, that is an incredibly scary call to receive. How did it get to this point?

My name is Justin Birckbichler. I’m a pretty average guy who relocated to Virginia after living in Pennsylvania for 22 years. I’m white, 25 years old, slightly above average in height and weight, have brown, spiked hair and blue eyes, and have a tendency to wear sleeveless shirts and shorts year round. I’m a fourth grade teacher and have been for four years. I’m one of those cliche “I love teaching so much” people, although it’s unique that I’m a guy. This is my first year at a new school, and I absolutely love the transition I made.

2016 has been an amazing year. In January, I was accepted to the first Google for Education Certified Innovator Academy and got to actually visit the Googleplex in Mountain View, California the following month. February also was our engagement month! Two days shy of our two year anniversary, I proposed to Mallory, my then-girlfriend. In April, I left my old school and signed a contract with a school that was much more aligned to my views on education. We bought our first home in July and relocated to an absolutely incredible area of Virginia. Soon thereafter, we picked out a cute Yorkie puppy, who we would bring home in October.

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