Survivorship

Survivorship and Connection After Cancer

“But you’re so young! You’re so healthy!”

These were the words I’d hear most often not long after my cancer diagnosis at the age of twenty-five.

Everything Doesn’t Happen for a Reason

It may be common to tell someone struggling with a cancer diagnosis that “everything happens for a reason,” but I don’t agree and think it is a rather rude thing to say, at least for my type of cancer.

He Laughed

He laughed. How could he laugh? I just divulged my most kept secret and he laughed. When someone tells you they have cancer, laughing should not be your first response. Well, I guess this isn’t going anywhere…

Survivorship After Having the “Good Cancer”

Patrick. Cait. Casey. Kevin. Jim. Chris. Mike. Alden. Vinnie. Adam. Those are the people I think of most throughout every day I remain cancer-free. Since I have been in my survivorship journey, those ten people have died, all undeserving of what this disease took from them and their loved ones.

Am I Human?

They no longer treat me like
I am human.

A human has flaws.
A human can be weak.
But I… I am their warrior—
their cancer warrior.

Life is Too Short Not to Let Yourself Change Your Mind

Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I had always wanted to be a doctor. And honestly, this dream held up for many years after. But cancer shifted my axis. I was in and out of school. I didn’t know if I’d graduate high school.

Why Not You?

For some people, when they experience a particularly arduous time in life, or when they are dealt a bad hand, so many think “Why me?” “Why did this awful thing happen to me? Why do I have to deal with this hardship? I think this can be traced to the age-old question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Trapped

Trapped in a bed. In a room. On the oncology floor.
Will they ever let me leave?

What People Need to Know About Cancer

AYA Cancer Awareness week was April 7-11. About 89,000 adolescents and young adults (ages 15-39) are diagnosed with cancer across the United States each year according to the National Cancer Institute, and in 2022 I was one of those young adults diagnosed with cancer.

My Identity After Cancer

My mother is crying in the other room, and I don’t understand why, but I am already trembling. My heart beats faster and faster as the doctors and nurse’s shoes squeak across the hallway floor as they walk swiftly past my hospital room to see what the commotion is.