Survivorship

Prayers

Prayers work wonders
Yet sometimes
They also make you wonder
Why sometimes
They are just not heard

College and Cancer

Having been a class of 2020 student, I spent my first year of college at home, taking my classes online. I hung around with my old friends in my old neighborhood, itching to get away to something new. When I received my housing offer for my university’s dorms my sophomore year, I was ecstatic.

Treat Us Gently

I wish people knew that once cancer has attacked your body and the treatment ravages your immune system, there is no going back to before, nor do you never think about the cancer again—if it goes into remission.

Every year when flu seasons are at their highest, it’s more significant because now the flu isn’t just time off from other people and life’s routine—the flu could now seriously deplete your body for several more days and weeks. Preventative health is a giant measure in seasons of communal illness. Especially now that flu seasons have doubled up with pandemic precautions since 2020.

My Dark Gamble

Hi! I’m Liz. I got my ticket to join the “Young Adults With Cancer” community at age 33. If you found this article, you know better than most the alarmingly far-reaching impacts cancer has on lives. Obviously, it was the most physically challenging part of my journey, but let me have you take a step back. This story is to appreciate how a dark gamble (okay okay, “healthy risk”) won. That gamble gave me a launch pad and has me beaming about my career today.

Cancer Sucks

I was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma two weeks before my 31st birthday, almost one year ago now. I had vaguely heard about this type of cancer before in media here and there but certainly never expected it to happen to me. I felt more disassociation than anything when I received my diagnosis. I couldn’t believe it.

My Journey From Chaos To Calm

Kintsukoroi – a Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with gold. They believe the repaired item is even more beautiful than the original, because of its imperfections. My cancer diagnosis shattered me into pieces, and I am only just sticking them back together, with gold.

Will I Ever Fully “Survive?”

Survivorship – this word itself is loaded. I always thought that to survive meant that you “fought” something and you “made” it. You are now living and existing, despite facing a difficulty. On some level, to me, the word survive itself implies that you are not living your life to its full potential. My core belief has always been that life is meant to be lived fully.

The Weight of Surviving

I’m shaking. Scrunched in the middle seat of a plane. Somewhere over Canada, I think. Happily watching From Scratch as I drink my Iceland glacier water and eat my German hot dog pastry. I love these new Netflix shows. Women of color falling in love with European men. A dream of mine, really. And so cheerful to watch—till his knee hurts, and I’m wondering what surgery he will need.

You Will Have to Learn

After completing my treatment in April of 2021, I had a mixture of emotions. I was happy that the treatments were over, but I was terrified at the same time. You see, being a cancer patient, treatments and checkups became a security blanket. I knew that the treatment was keeping the cancer away and I knew the checkups would catch anything if it did happen to show its ugly face again.

It Was All a Dream

My story is unique. I didn’t have symptoms of cancer. I didn’t have any medical issues I was dealing with. And to my knowledge, there were no cancer genes in my family. In fact, I would have never found my cancer if it wasn’t for an eye-opening dream I had about my mother. Buckle up, friends, I am about to take you on a journey that you would never believe. It will strengthen your faith and remind you there is something bigger than all of us out there.