One Year Out.
2024-04-26 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:52 · watch on YouTube
Topic: Personal life · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic, self promotion, fundraising ask
Nearly a year after his cancer diagnosis, Hank compares Missoula's animal parade last year, the day after he learned he probably had cancer, with this year's, and says that as the anniversaries arrive things are different enough not to crash down on him (his son's class went from bugs to fish); a sock plugs the Awesome Socks Club and Hank notes John's film is coming out.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — Missoula's animal parade last year, the day after Hank learned he probably had cancer
- ★★ Hank says Missoula holds a yearly parade where children and adults dress as animals; last year (2023) it fell the day after he learned he probably had cancer, before it was certain. — 00:00:00 · Missoula, Montana, cancer
- ★★ Hank says he went with his family anyway and it was the worst adorable parade he has been to: his anxiety physically impaired him, he kept sitting down and feared never seeing it again. — 00:00:29
- ★★ This year's (2024) parade just happened around Earth Day; Hank had convinced himself he couldn't go, but Orin wanted him there, so he went: the second-worst parade, with lovely moments, and he's glad. — 00:00:44 · Orin Green
00:00:58 — This year's parade, the coming anniversaries, fear of relapse, rereading last year's tweets, bugs are different from fish
- ★★★ Hank says that as the anniversaries arrive, many things will remind him of the last year; that is scary and makes him wonder how he would deal with a relapse, online and in his body. — 00:01:13 · cancer
- ★★ Hank says he has consistently been wrong about this: you don't know how you'll react until it happens; he feels he'd be fine with a relapse but knows he wouldn't, since imagining it unsettles his body. — 00:01:33
- ★★ Hank says rereading his tweets from this time last year (2023) helps: some hinted at illness, but he also tweeted about hockey, Pluto and rereading the Mars trilogy, his first loved novel; he was still himself. — 00:01:58 · Twitter
- ★★★ Hank says this year's (2024) parade was different enough not to crash down on him at once: his son's class was bugs last year (2023) and fish this year (2024), and bugs are different from fish. (playful) — 00:02:31
00:03:05 — Diagnosis the day before his 43rd birthday; sign-off
- ★★ Hank says it is worse because he was diagnosed the day before his 43rd birthday, so birthdays may feel different, though he knows his 44th won't be like his 43rd. — 00:03:05
00:03:52 — A sock plugs the Awesome Socks Club and takes over the Good Store social accounts
- ★★ Hank says that today only the first pair of socks from the Awesome Socks Club costs $5 with free shipping, and that 100% of the profit from it and everything at good.store goes to decrease maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone. — 00:03:52 · Sierra Leone, maternal death, child mortality, Awesome Socks Club, Good Store
- ★★ A sock says the introductory price of the first socks rises by $1 a day: $5 today, $6 on Saturday, then $7 up to $10. (playful) — 00:03:56 · Awesome Socks Club
- ★ The sock says it is taking over Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts for five days, at Hank's insistence, on the Good Store accounts linked in the description. (playful) — 00:04:03 · Instagram, TikTok, Good Store
00:04:21 — John's Turtles All the Way Down film coming out on Max; John's press tour
- ★★ The sock invites viewers to join the Awesome Socks Club for a little extra delight and to make the world a better place. (playful) — 00:04:21 · Awesome Socks Club
- ★★ Hank confirms John's movie will be out before Hank's next video. — 00:04:28 · John Green
- ★★ Hank asks anyone who signs up for Max just for the movie to watch it immediately, so the company knows why. — 00:04:33
- ★ Hank can't wait to watch the film; he just talked to John, who is a little overwhelmed by his press tour, but 'we're doing it'. — 00:04:40 · John Green
In the description and comments
- ★ In a channel comment John echoes 'we're doing it', written at the end of one long day of press and before another. — creator comment
Threads in this video
- retold · Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and chemotherapy (2023) — Hank says Missoula holds a yearly parade where children and adults dress as animals; last year (2023) it fell the day after he learned he probably had cancer, before it was certain. (00:00:00)
- update · Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and chemotherapy (2023) — Hank says that as the anniversaries arrive, many things will remind him of the last year; that is scary and makes him wonder how he would deal with a relapse, online and in his body. (00:01:13)
- reminder · John and Hank ask viewers to sign up for the Awesome Socks Club for 2023 (2022) — The sock invites viewers to join the Awesome Socks Club for a little extra delight and to make the world a better place. (00:04:21)
- milestone · Awesome Socks Club: monthly sock subscription (2016) — Hank says that today only the first pair of socks from the Awesome Socks Club costs $5 with free shipping, and that 100% of the profit from it and everything at good.store goes to decrease maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone. (00:03:52)
Where the stories that moved here went next
- Awesome Socks Club: monthly sock subscription (2016) — running; last: milestone, 2026-10-30
- Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and chemotherapy (2023) — told 34×, last update 2026; last: retold, 2026-10-09
Mentioned
Central: Awesome Socks Club · cancer · Procession of the Species
Also: People: Orin Green
Projects: Good Store
Works: Mars trilogy · Turtles All the Way Down (film)
Organizations: Instagram · Max · TikTok · Twitter
Concepts: anxiety disorder · child mortality · ice hockey · maternal death
Places: Missoula, Montana · Pluto · Sierra Leone
Events: Earth Day
Products: YouTube Shorts
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