Personal Narrative: My Experience With Skin Cancer

It’s astonishing how one diagnosis can completely alter the life of a family. One day you’re looking to move into the fancy houses along the coast, and the next you’re forced to consider if you would be able to afford the same home with one income. When I was three years old my mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer. I was too young to know what was happening, but at the age of seven, when my mom was diagnosed for the second time, I began to notice a change in my family’s daily life. I was told not to sit on my mom’s lap and that she could not play with me as much as usual due to her Chemotherapy, but it was not until her third time contracting cancer that I noticed the pain she was in. I was fourteen when I finally learned about the very thing I had been trying to figure out for nearly my entire life. This burden has solely shaped the way I act and how I handle life’s many challenges, but how it accomplished this was not always a joyous experience.

serious towards everything. I would stop talking to my friends from Kingwood High School and my friends from New Jersey and as well as my family. Then one day, i suddenly became really tired and light headed and unable to function correctly. In a matter of minutes i was rushed to the hospital, and multiple test was concluded and the result was showing that i had stage two colon cancer. The word Cancer didn't shock me or scare me, but the only thing that scared me was the result of having cancer and how it's going to change me and what i have to through in order to live or have my normal life back.

On December 17th, 2011 the person who was supposed to guide me through life, watch me grow, and teach me how to get through life, passed away. My mother’s death was certainly out of the blue and has impacted my family and I drastically. About 55.3 million people die each year and one of the most important person to me became a part of that statistic ( ) . My loss changed how I grew up, how things were in my household, and has altered my opinions on life. The experience of losing someone close to me and it being so unexpected has opened my eyes on how I should cherish the ones I love and not take life for granted.

Everyone knows the disastrous effects cancer has on a person and their loved ones. Knowing that my mom was misdiagnosed, there could've been a moment when she may have still been here on Earth. During 2005, my mom noticed that something was wrong with her. This realization lead her to go seek a doctor at Lincoln hospital. During her examination, the doctors didn't noticed anything was wrong. After three years she went back again, and Dr. Max Ann examined my mother a second time,but this time he discovered that she had cancer. This

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

In fifth grade I found out my mom had breast cancer. I didn’t fully understand what it meant at the time, but as I got older I understood the severity of the situation my mother had to face. Eight surgeries and seven years later she is cancer free but still faces severe nerve damage and lots of doctors appointments and physical therapy. This put strains on me to take care of her and to do everything in my power to make her day easier by having one less thing to worry about: me. This was, and continues to be my driving force and motivation in school, my extra curriculars, and every day life choices.

When I was five years old I found out my sister, who at the time was two years old, was diagnosed with Cancer. This was a challenge for my entire family.

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.

I can’t exactly say I remember it like it was yesterday. The only reason I won’t say that is because I can’t remember how I felt, if I felt anything at all. What I can say, is that I remember exactly how everyone around me felt. I’m not sure if it was the sufferance that made me numb, or if my brain is simply blocking out the immense sadness I must’ve felt at the time. Either way, it all started the beginning of April in 2012. When my mother first told me that we were going to drive to Canada because of a family emergency, I’m sure I must’ve felt shocked at the news; my mom usually hates when I miss school, especially that late into the year, but I obliged. I didn’t have a choice really, so my mom sat me down to tell me what exactly the family emergency was. Turns out my aunt Cristy had cancer, stomach cancer. I looked it up later that day, still slightly confused, as stomach cancer is rare. I slowly began to understand things, whatever it might mean to understand cancer anyway. My aunt had a very rare stomach cancer. We were driving 16 hours to Canada to see my cancerous aunt.

Today I learned what grit is, grit is when you make a goal and no matter what life throws at you, you have to stick with it. My sisters has had many bad things happen to her in her lifetime. She has shown grit through all of it. When times she could of just threw in the towel and quit, she took everything bad in life and moved on with in. Like when she found she was going to have a baby at the age of 17. Also when her 2 year old son fell really ill and the Dr.s still don’t know what is wrong with him. He had to stayed 74 days in Iowa City and still has to go back every Monday, and when that was happening she found out that she was going to have baby in June. Many times she could've just gave up, but she had grit. Grit has made me become more

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.

My sophomore year of high school my Grandpa was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, around the same time my sister was diagnosed with crohns disease. My family took a pretty hard hit in a very small amount of time, everyone was struggling with how to handle the serious medical issues that were just thrown at us. The light and the

In April 2013 during the spring break of my sophomore year of high school, I lost my father due to a heart attack. This brought my life and my family to a complete standstill. Not only was this devastating but it put a financial burden on my family as my mother struggled to keep my brother in college. It was only by the grace of God that he was able to

From an early age I learned that our very best is often brought to action when we willingly take on challenges and persevere with grace through trying times. As a widowed, single mother, my mom strove for excellence in every area of her life in order to put food on the table for her children. She studied to be a nurse, quickly rose in to administration, became the first in our family to obtain a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), and earned a seat as a director for an international healthcare organization. Her determination and positive spirit served as a great example and sparked a passionate drive in my life to help others while striving for greatness.

All my family knew that my grandpa Al was getting older and couldn't do as much. Over the next few weeks, he sounded like he was getting sick. He was getting slower. But because he is as stubborn as they come, he never tried to stop working. This all concluded with a life changing moment.