The Relay for Life fundraisers, Saint Jude's Research Hospital ads, and pink ribbons on the backs of cars: just a few of the many reminders of a tragedy that plagues this world. This seemed superfluous. My generation has grown up with mementos of cancer everywhere we look, and I did not understand why. Participating in The Relay for Life was just another event for me; I never thought I would have an impact on cancer research. Eventually I stopped participating in it because it seemed to do nothing. I walked for years, but there was no cure for cancer. I had given up.
Just as all hope was lost, the genetics class at my high school opened my eyes. I loved studying genes. We discussed the genetic causes of cancer, and my attention was instantly seized. My class attended a genetic update conference given by Sam Rhine of the University of Indiana. This opened up a whole new door into my understanding of genetics and science in general. In the semester I took that genetics class, my entire perception of the human body, diseases, and especially cancer was altered.
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When she was on her deathbed in 2014, my family finally got the answer to her illness; she had been suffering from undiagnosed stage four ovarian cancer. I was devastated. My dad and his siblings decided to allow her to pass away peacefully and not treat the cancer for it would be too invasive. I shrugged this off. Figuring she had suffered enough with her past medical issues, I convinced myself it was God’s way of calling her home. Then, in June of this year, my world came crashing down. Just as it had happened with my grandmother, another diagnosis arrived. My mother was also a victim of cancer; she had stage three Non-Hodgkin’s
Isn’t it overwhelming to consider the fact that approximately one in eight deaths in the world are due to cancer? To make this more comprehensible, the number of deaths caused by cancer is greater than caused by AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Along with the idea that this disease does not have a definite cure is a mind-staggering concept to grasp. If not caught in time, cancer means guaranteed death. These types of thoughts were floating around my head when my mother had told me that my father had mouth cancer.
In 2016, an estimated 1,685,210 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the United States and of those 1,685,210 cases cancer brutally killed 595,690 of the people. Cancer has a major impact on society in the United States and across the world. Cancer leaves families torn, broken-hearted, and forever scared. Cancer is the worst disease known to man, and the worst part is, there is no known cure. With the discovery of a cure for cancer hundreds of thousands of people would get to live their life instead of losing the battle to cancer. I have had many personal experiences with cancer in my family, I recently lost my granny and great-granny to cancer. In addition, it not only hurts the person diagnosed but it hurts everyone who knows the person being diagnosed. With a cure for cancer my neighborhood of the future would be almost perfect. Cancer ruins many lives as it has mine, there is no way to change my life now, but we can help save others lives and futures by finding a cure for cancer in the near
My name is Trenton Lafferty. I have chosen cancer because it is one of the most popular noncommunicable diseases out there. I have a family member named Peg who is still battling cancer. She is gaining back her hair, and only has a few more rounds of therapy to go; at least, that’s what I’ve heard. Please enjoy this following essay.
Cancer. A disease that affects the lives of eight million men, women and children each year worldwide. I am just one out of the eight million. After losing my only aunty to stomach cancer three years ago, during the midst of the struggle of coming to terms with the loss, I began reading Livescience and National Geographic articles about cancer in hope to find answers about a disease that millions were losing against. Learning that an uncontrollable division of cells as small as 20 micrometers can cause cancer fascinated me. It fuelled my desire to learn more about diseases and the massive impact they have and bought me to a realisation that Biomedical Science would be an excellent course for me to study. Studying modules such as Cancer Biology and Clinical Microbiology would give me a greater understanding about genes accountable in the development of cancer and also diagnosis of human disease.
Her claw like fingernails pierced into my delicate skin. Miss. Lawson was my abusive nanny who acted as my mother when she wasn’t around, which happened to be very often. Miss. Lawson had a very perplexing past that included being in the foster system for all eighteen years of her life childhood, having a miscarriage at the fresh age of twenty-five and finally, what wounded her the most, her husband, the love of her life left her. I knew that Miss. Lawson was more than just a broken hearted nanny whose mission was to make me a prisoner in my own home . She had a heart full of lost love and all she needed was someone to help her acquire it. That was going to have to be me.
During the Spring of 2012 my mother became ill with bilateral breast cancer. During this time I was in school and unable to travel to see her or assist my brothers. Being that she was the only family member I lived with it was difficult to focus on my schoolwork as well as think about my mom and two brothers who were at home with these problems. My mother would recover and return to health a year later after surgery and treatment, but the issues continued to arise in our home.
Eventually things in my life as a first grader returned to normal. My family was complete again and everyone was home. It never crossed my mind that it could come back until 4 years later when it did. Throughout the next 13 years after the original diagnosis, the cancer has come back 4 times. Now that I am old enough to understand what is wrong, I can honestly say that it isn’t the hospital visits that touch my life the most. Of course when she is in the hospital it is hard but now that I can go visit her as I please it makes it a whole lot easier. The thing that has touched my life the most is something that most people probably take for granted and don’t even know they have. It is the security and confidence in the health of their loved ones. It is the fact that they don’t have to worry about their dad, brother, mom being sick. They don’t have to worry about how long they will have their loved ones for. As I look back upon the years that I have fully understood what is going on with my mom’s health that I realize how much it has shaped me. I truly don’t know how long I have left with her, or if something similar could happen to me. This constant adversity in my life has made me try to not take things, especially time for
In February of 2006, I began a journey that I never imagined myself taking. I was a single mother who was fighting stage 3 breast cancer. Do to the cancer, I found an interest in our local Relay for Life which I co-captained for our Bendix Team. Our local Relay was in June that year and I stayed at the track for 16 of the 18 hours where I celebrated with the other survivors and participated in all the events. To see other cancer survivors and hear their stories was uplifting to me.My family and I felt so much joy. My son celebrated with the other children at the track and we left Relay feelinghope for the first time since my diagnosis. As amazing as this experience was, it didn’t prepare me for what would become the most amazing day.
I met Ashleie Gordy when I was 15 years old. Ashleie had her hands full with a baby on the way, trying to find a job, and trying to find a home. Although she was faced with so much adversity when asked to serve as an advisor of the My Life Movement, she gladly obliged. She believed in my vision, my dream, and the mission of the movement. As a result of her faith in me came the existence of The My Life Movement.
Cancer is an unforgiving disease that affects countless families nationwide. I have always heard conversations about it here and there. The media would talk about how much it impacts our world today and tell stories of miracles and survivors. However, I never thought my family and I would be affected by it. After hearing it said so many times, it stopped sounding so dangerous, it became something ordinary. However, once I knew that it was going to have an impact on my family it became something more real than I wished it to be.
Even though that I still do not have any personal connection to breast cancer, I am able to see how personal it could be, being the greatest takeaway from my time volunteering for the Race for the Cure.
We then learned further treatment was unachievable and over time, my mother began to lose her strength and mobility, which required us to place her in hospice care. As one of her caregivers, I helped to feed, groom, bathe, and assist her in the bathroom. During this time, it was disheartening to see my mother deteriorate, knowing that there was nothing further I could do. At age 14, I watched helplessly as my mother, and best friend, lost her battle with cancer. In my grief, my interest in the medical field intensified; I was determined to be there for other people who faced similar situations. I also wanted to do my part to prevent cancer so others would not have to suffer the pain of losing a loved
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
I remember the tears in my parents’ eyes the day my older brother, Niraj, was diagnosed with Thalassemia major, a blood cancer where hemoglobin is deformed resulting in improper oxygen transport. I remember the countless times he had been rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, leaving me to wake up in the morning to an empty house. Most regrettably, I remember slowly drifting away from my parents as our top priority became saving my brother. I tried to help as much I could, but how much could a nine year old girl contribute to curing cancer? The cancer affected not only my brother, but also my entire family. It was brutal, tragic, hapless and most notably a thief. It stole time, effort, money, and energy, but the most important
We finish what we start. This was the motto that kept me going during the strenuous training period for a marathon. But prior to that, I must confess, I wasn’t an athlete. I was never interested in playing sports, except for recreational badminton. During gym class, I would walk three quarters of the time when it time for the dreaded mile run. I preferred staying indoors and sitting on the couch and watch movies. The first time I had heard about a marathon training program, called Dreamfar, in my school, I thought to myself, what kind of crazy person would want to run a marathon? Never did I realize, eight months later, I would be that crazy person.