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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My Real Cancer Story, No BS
Eventually, I decided to go on mediation because I just felt like I wasn’t improving to the point where my quality of life was stable…I just wanted to be happy again, and finally, I can truly say that I am. Being on medication for your mental health is nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes we need help because our body balance is just off tilt enough to cause us daily pain and suffering. I didn’t want to suffer anymore. Being brave is about being honest, and for me meant that I needed a little extra help to balance my body and take that edge off. After 5 years of being stuck in a void of darkness and pain, I can finally say that I have found my happiness and will to live again.
Read More...My “Live Funeral”
When I reflect on the scariest week of my life, my heart nearly explodes at the support I received from family and friends. There’s no chance I would have gotten through the week of my emergency brain surgery without them.
Read More...My Cancer Story
Vikki Ramdass was born on August 11th, 1985. I grew up in Pierre Road, Chaguanas, a quiet neighbourhood. College was a struggle as per any teenage crisis.
Read More...A Letter to My Hair
But alas, I never treated you right. I was always burning you with irons and dryers. Always using cheap drugstore products just cuz they smelled like the cape at sunrise. But you stayed with me. My 3rd grade bowl cut? You were there. Bangs in high school? You were there. When I decided to go blonde?
Read More...The Girl Who’s Always Smiling
This whole experience taught me to be my own best friend. To understand my own needs because nobody can. To comfort myself and that there is nothing wrong in that. To listen to my body and to create my thoughts rather than have my thoughts control me.
Read More...I Am Not Your Cute Subplot: Cancer in Media
Next time, give me a cancer character who is too exhausted from their chemo to do the dishes so they take their pills with a coffee mug. Give me a cancer character whose chemo fog causes them to forget to text their roommate to get toilet paper at the store and the moment they realize it they cuss. Give me a cancer character who hates taking the dog out because every time a neighbor stops to ask them how they’re doing, even though they just spoke to each other yesterday, so why would it have changed? Give me a cancer character who is annoyed at all of the people they’ve ever known on Facebook posting on their wall about how bad they feel for them.
Read More...Whispers from the Ghost of Vlad
I wanted to let you know that I’m not okay with you being here, but it’s fine. The world I knew is gone now, and I can’t get rid of you. I don’t even really want to. You’ve changed me, and you’re part of me forever. I don’t want to be complacent, and I don’t want to go back. You remind me to look around and really see what’s there.
Read More...Picture Perfect is Overrated
I’ve realized that things are never going to be picture perfect. Some days that I thought would be not a big deal meant the world to me. And other days that I put so much into, were underwhelming. I can’t control what the outcome of anything is going to look like, and I’m learning to be okay with that.
Read More...Studying Resilience Among AYAs
Mental health matters. Mental health impact of cancer can be bigger than the physical aspect of it. Mental health aspect of cancer needs to stop being a taboo.
Read More...Crocs and Socks: Bringing Hope Through Treatment
I stood in front of my dresser with the top middle drawer sitting open, filled with multicolored socks galore, pulling them out one by one. Trying to find pairs and match them, I was reorganizing for the first time in a long time.
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