Autobiography Of Cancer Essay

You never realize how evil cancer truly is until it affects you or your family. I was four when cancer first affected me, stage four leukemia. My two year old cousin Conor was on the verge of death, and I had absolutely no clue. For the first nine months of his fight all I knew that he was sick, I assumed he had a cold, not fighting for his life. When I was five my mom sat me down to tell me that Conor was not going to make it, and that my brother and I were going with her to Albany to visit him. His bones were sticking out, his head looked like a bowling ball, and his skin was a pale blue. He looked like a child in a concentration camp during World War II. Honestly if you were to think of what a dead child looked like, that was him. That was the first time I realized that my mom was right, and that Conor was not going to make it.

Cancer is sometimes referred to as the big C, the C word. When people hear it, they freeze up in silence as though they have seen a ghost. In October, 2005 at the age of 3 I was diagnosed with a rare cancer that only affects 2 to 3 people out of million. After laying on the couch for several days, and complaining of a stomach I was taken to the doctor there we found out that I had Liver Sarcoma. At this time my mom was in the navy so I was admitted into Madigan Army Medical Center, but left soon later and went to Children's Hospital. I didn't really understand what was happening at that time because everything was happening, so fast that I couldn't keep up. From my Nana moving from Texas to Washington St to live with us, to being in the hospital

My parents told me that I was going to start chemotherapy and that I had to have surgery to put my port in. They said that I would have to stay in the hospital for a while and that I would feel really sick. On december 16,2007 I checked into Children’s hospital in Boston. I figured out what cancer was a couple of months later. I was not a big fan of shots but they gave several of them daily. The worst thing about being in a hospital is that there is nothing you can do to improve your situation. I got used to taking pills because they would give me multiple every day. The worst part about cancer was the fact that I lost my hair.During my beginning phases of Cancer I was told to miss school. I ended up missing 5 months of school while in the first grade. The principle wanted to hold me back a year but my teacher said that I was so advanced that I was able to move to the seond grade anyway.In November of 2008 the Make A Wish foundation granted me my wish of going to Disney World. I had never been outside of Massachusetts so going to Florida as a big deal for me. I had also never been on a plane and people say that your ears start to hurt so I was pretty

There is no mincing of words, nor is there a phrase with gentle connotations to adequately articulate the emotional, psychological or physical place that cancer forces upon you. Quite frankly, battling cancer sucks. The individual engaged in the battle and their support system can choose to crumble or rally. To crumble is to become angry and resentful. To rally is to rise up and use your experiences to help others. I was fortunate that my support group didn’t give me an option to crumble. I was raised in a family, in a church community that focuses on service. So, at 14 battling cancer, I was told that the only way out was through and to get through the turmoil of cancer, I was expected to find a “cancer” mentor and find a way to give back.

There is nothing anyone could have done. My sister didn’t mean to get cancer, and she couldn’t have stopped it from growing. I just wish things had happened differently and that my entire family wouldn’t be turned away from me now.

Despite my parent's divorce, I led a contented life. My dad lived in the outskirts of Denver, but his distance never kept him from maintaining an active role in my life. Back in Colorado Springs, I lived with my mom, little sister, and step-father. Growing up, I never felt that I truly fit in with any of my friends or even my family; like almost any other teenager, I felt awkward in my own skin. However, my focus quickly shifted away from myself. In November of 2013, my mother learned that she had Pancreatic Cancer. My bubble of protection from the world's problems promptly burst as I heard the diagnosis. My family did our research only to discover that the statistics were horrifying. The five-year survival rate for someone with any stage

Have you ever feel like luck is not by your side.? That’s how I felt for many years. The environment in which I was raised shaped me into a resilient person and I’m thankful for that because I survived both cancer and my parents’ divorce.

Fighting cancer can be difficult, you have to do many treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy, and many others that treat cancer. You have to do this at different times during the lifetime of cancer. Casey found out he had cancer after the doctors revealed a lump in his neck, he was diagnosed with lymphoma in the beginning of his junior year. Casey combatted cancer all of his junior year, he had to do school at home while travel to Dallas Texas to do his cancer treatment. Casey Fought cancer his junior year and still accomplished to graduate his senior year which makes him a hero by fighting his cancer, caring for his family, and being around others when he could easily get sick. One quote says, "Cancer does not define me, but how I live

In September of my junior year of high school, my mom told me for the third time that she had cancer. She had spent the entire summer coughing. It was a bad summer cold or maybe a stubborn case of bronchitis. No one could seem to figure out what was causing the cough. A late summer bronchoscopy finally solved the case. It was cancer. Calmly, she reassured me on that September day, “It’s an early stage cancer. They say it’s very treatable. We’ve been down this road before.” The next nine months was a road that no one in my family had traveled. Frequent doctor visits, chemotherapy treatments, and hospitalizations became our new normal. We painstakingly watched as each round of chemo treatments devastated and weakened her. Through everything, my mom was resilient, tough, and determined to live.

Everything in life can be associated with a color, happiness is a bright and inviting yellow, while sadness could be a dull and dismal grey. One afternoon, my twin brother, Chris, and I were sitting on the couch, smiling and laughing with one another. Vibrant shades of yellows and oranges surrounded us and made me feel safe and at ease. Our parents walked into the living room with somber looks on their faces, my mother looked upset. That was the day I found out my mother had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The Russell’s lifestyle was challenged now with a horrible plague my mother was burdened with. The prominent color present in the house went from a warm red to a darker shade, a color I associate with the threat of death. Something about that didn’t sit well with me.

Being a cancer survivor presents many persistent challenges. Despite those challenges, I graduated high school with honors. Hope for an uncertain future comes in part from the salvation I find in being a college student.

Living with cancer is an enormous challenge, and most of us are encouraged to try coping skills like yoga, meditation and patient support groups. While I have found several techniques helpful, expressive writing has been surprisingly therapeutic for me. This seemed to come out of nowhere. I had published journal articles, book chapters and scientific papers during my career. I had even written a few simple rhymes for social occasions and business functions, but I had never considered doing any creative writing before cancer struck. My cancer adventure began early in 2014 when a large tumor was discovered in my head and neck. This explained my recent hearing loss and the jaw pain I had felt for some time. It was an advanced, high-grade cancer,

Being diagnosed with cancer I knew I only had one option and that was to take it to the Lord and when I did, wow! He not only healed me He delivered me too of addictions! I repented of my sins to Jesus with my whole heart and He healed me! Not instantly it was a process for months, everything except drinking and smoking that He did

We were in the middle of June so it was a sunny day with a blue sky and clouds. As we are leaving for giselles doctors appointment everyone was just making jokes trying to be positive. When we get there everyone goes quiet looking worried. As soon as the doctor walks in he blurts out “So the tumor is big but removable” everyone's jaw drops and starts crying. My Aunt then says “ She has a tumor?” He says “ Wait didn't they tell you ? They were supposed to tell you” He tells us everything is going to be okay and surgery can fix this but it will take a couple of more months to shrink all of the tumor with chemo.

I remember sitting in a small room with my father and the doctor. We thought his laperoscopy was nothing to be afraid of, but the doctor knew otherwise. He in fact said cancer and I immediately started to break down. My world was crumbling in on me and I truly though that I was going to be left alone yet again. My