Personal Narrative: My Cousin's Battle With Cancer

Everyone hears the word “Cancer” and automatically thinks death? Imagine being told you have cancer a month before Christmas and having to start chemotherapy right away. That was me at age 16 barely a junior in High School, they say high school is supposed to be a great experience. And it was at the beginning which was my freshman and sophomore year. I was that girl athlete with lots of friends who went day by day not caring about my health I would eat lots of junk food and stay up late at night. I come from a Hispanic family single parent my mom and 4 siblings 3 girls and one boy. Two had already gotten married and there was only 3 left at home including me. My mom would work out in the fields so sometimes she 'd come home late, therefore

Overall, my mother took on cancer like a champ. Treatments made her exhausted, but she never gave up. When this all began, I told my mom to just keep swimming, and it has been our life motto ever since. We were each other’s motivation. Whenever we are struggling with something, even today, we just think, “just keep swimming,” for our motivation. My mom and I are great supporters of one another, and without her, I would not be where I am

I didn't understand how serious the situation was until I heard those words, but when I found out it felt like I had skipped forward twenty years. I have been told he is not going to make it this twice now, and he is still fighting. He was cancer free for eleven years before he relapsed, 3 months ago. I am now sixteen and those words are harder to hear now that they were then. At five cancer is not as scary as it is at sixteen, you don’t understand death at five, you do at

“Sarah has cancer,” is a phrase that changed my life. I was barely ten years old when my dad picked me up from volleyball practice to explain why my little sister had been in the hospital so much. At the time, Sarah was eight and had been in and out of hospitals and various doctor’s appointments over the past two months to try and figure out what was going on. Learning she had cancer was both a relief and burden. The feeling of relief occurred because now we finally knew what was wrong, but it was a burden because you hear about cancer in the elderly, not in eight year-old girls that love sports.

My husband and I were married for less than eleven months when our world collapsed around us. I’ll never forget what the doctor said, “Much to our surprise, it was cancer.” Seven words that changed our lives forever.

During the 2007 I got great news, I was accepted at UNC-Charlotte. Meanwhile, I had no idea 2007 my world would be turned upside down with bad news. My mother’s broth and sister were both diagnosis with Cancer. What’s most painful both siblings pasted away six months apart? Meanwhile, more bad news came my way when I mother was diagnosis with Cancer and Renal failure. I talked to my mother’s medical team, they voice they never seen where three siblings having cancer all at once in the same year, just months apart. Consequently, my mother survived her cancer just after two chemo treatments. I came home every weekend to help with her care. One promise to my mother I made was not to drop out of school, it was important to her that I finished

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.

More than 50,000 people died in 2015 due to cancer, homicides, and drunk driving. Year of 2015 is the year that opened my eyes to what’s going on with the world’s current society. Cancer, homicides, and drunk driving are things I see as wrongful deaths. Others may see it as a misconception.

I sat there cold and motionless, not even the sun on that warm summer day could bring me to life. “There is nothing left to do. This is the end.” The words played continuously in my head like a broken record. I had to find the willpower to stand, walk back into the hospital, and say my final goodbye to my mom.

Have you ever felt so broken and lost that you believed you simply couldn’t keep going on in life, as if the barriers of your life caved in and suffocated the very existence in which you lived? This pain was all that I knew in the months following my grandfather’s loss to cancer in July of 2008. Fighting until his dying breath, it was a moment in my life that rocked and shattered my heart like fragile glass. His death required me to adapt to and appreciate life and showed me that no obstacle is to big overcome if you maintain hope and a positive outlook.

At the budding age of six years old I met my lifelong stalker. It’s quite ironic since we had such a thriving relationship in the beginning. We were attached to one another by the hip, and I grew so comfortable with her that sometimes I forgot she was there. She accompanied me to school, extracurricular activities, sports practices, and slept over nearly every night. One day this former best friend of mine knocked on my front door and ambushed me as soon as I cracked open the door hinges. She began hitting, kicking, and tearing my body apart until I could barely breathe. I tried to resist her, but before I was conscious again my brunette lox was shaved off until I was left completely bald. Tears trickled down my face as I noticed my childhood memories would be destroyed for eternity. As the reader you are probably questioning who would do such a thing, so I’ll tell you her name: Childhood Cancer.

A woolen blanket. A thick one, so thick that if you climbed under it, it would be hard to breathe. Now it is wet, a lingering dampness that won't go away no matter how much you want it to. The dampness leads to a chill, and the chill works into your bones. You would be so much warmer without the blanket, but it's too heavy to throw off. That is depression. When I was six years old, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. I lived every day with tears in my eyes as my mother lived in pain and could not bring herself to eat or drink. I longed for her suffering to subside and for her to rebuild her strength and act like her joyful self again. However, that never happened. On March 9th, 2009, she lost her battle with cancer. After she died, I

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

I never wanted to be fluent in cancer. I was content with my unrealized ignorance of oncological jargon and procedures. However, on April 10th 2015, when my husband was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, I quickly went from being ignorant of this disease, to consumed by it. The day of his diagnosis I began to educate myself on the role of caretaker and took post in a position that I would both loath and treasure.

With cancer being the second leading cause of death worldwide. This illness has had an impact of the lives of almost every person, and with cancer claiming the lives of both of my paternal grandparents, I am no exception to this statement. My grandparents did not survive their battle with cancer, mostly due to the under development of chronic diseases in my home country, Cuba. While Cuba has an exceptional infectious disease department, their chronic diseases does not provide the same results. I have personal connection with cancer. And this has led me to work to find better treatment options, that can be cheap and efficient, so that less developed countries can have access to better options.