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Patients
The stories and experiences in this category are written by people currently going through treatments for cancer. Read these stories to find inspiration and know that you are not alone in your experience with cancer.
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How Am I Supposed to Handle This
I guess you could say my journey starts like they all do going to the doctor for one thing and coming out with a diagnosis that changed my life. I went to my gynecologist to discuss having a hysterectomy because I was not going to have children and my periods were becoming tough to get through.
Read More...It’s Complicated
Cancer took my twenties from me. It took my potential career from me. A year into my post-college job search, I was told that I had a “hematologic malignancy of some kind.”
Read More...The Unlikely Survivor: Autism, Transition, and Going Beyond the 15% Colon Cancer Odds
In 2017, I was diagnosed with colon cancer at 23 years old. I was initially told I had stage 3c cancer with a 70% chance of surviving five years.
Read More...Essence of a Man With Cancer
What is the definition of Adulting? If you break out and dust off the ‘ol Merriam-Webster webster dictionary it would say, “To become an adult”. Pretty vague and straight forward, right? Nope!
Read More...Not a Bucket List
They tell me to live like I’m dying. But I have four small children who still need their lunches packed and bedtime stories read.
Read More...Pack Over Lone Wolf: Community, Words, and Miles Through Cancer
When I was diagnosed with neuroendocrine carcinoma at 33, I thought “getting through” meant surviving treatment cycles and scan days. I imagined a finish line: make it through this surgery, this chemo, this radiation, this clinical trial, and then life would return to something like normal.
Read More...In Defense of Messy Emotions
I look out at a hundred faces of AYA patients, survivors, and their loved ones quietly sipping their coffee, tea, and water. Everyone here has taken time out of their Saturday to hear a panel of people like me explain how we’ve “made meaning” out of having cancer as a young adult.
Read More...A Simple Twist of Fate
I’ve always despised the trope of the patient who pulls through against all odds, despite all evidence to the contrary. Yes, diagnoses can shift and treatment plans evolve, but the ultimate trajectory rarely strays far from the original suspicion.
Read More...Dear Cancer, You’re the Queen of Giving and Taking Away
You’re the queen of giving and taking away. I look back now at how much I thought my life was ruined the day I opened a mychart notification with the word carcinoma in it.
Read More...The Life You Save May Be Your Own
In elementary school, my teachers always told us it was important to understand math because “you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket.” That sentiment hasn’t aged well, given that my iPhone and Alexa are always within reach.
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