this i believe
My Belief statement comes from my experiences with cancer, both directly and indirectly. These experiences have been one of the greatest influences on my life, both how I live my life and what future career path I have chosen. This is my story
Over eleven years ago, my parents and I heard the words that no parents should ever have to hear: “Your child has cancer.” I was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a tissue cancer, in my left cheek. After diagnosis, I underwent several surgeries, weeks of radiation, and a year and a half of chemotherapy treatments in order to fight off the cancer. While in the hospital, I watched friends that I had made while staying there come in one day, and be gone next time I came in. I didn’t fully understand when I was younger that unlike me, still fighting, these friends had lost their battle with cancer. All I knew was that I was lucky to still be alive and fighting, and that every day I survived was a gift. Even at such a young age, this experience had taught me that I should live every day of my life like it was my last one.
Being so young, I didn’t know how much cancer would truly affect my life, besides the physical changes of losing my hair and having it grow back different than before, and having my growth stunted, just to name a few aspects. I didn’t come to understand fully what effect cancer would have on my life until much later, about ten years after my diagnosis. The event that made me realize this affect didn’t even directly involve me, but a close friend of mine. She told me when she found the summer before my junior year that her uncle had been diagnosed with Stage 4 bone cancer, and wasn’t given much time to live. The news devastated her, but it hit me hard also because I had become close with her family, and I knew her uncle and his three young boys well. Even though he wasn’t given much time to live, he is still alive and fighting today. This experience made me think about my own experience with cancer. Because of these two experiences, I have come to believe that I was given a gift of being able to survive cancer, and I should use that gift to help other people who would be going through situations similar to the one I faced. This belief has motivated me to want to work in the Hematology/Oncology division at Cincinnati Children’s hospital, where I would be working with pediatric cancer patients, experiencing things similar to what I did eleven years ago.
Over eleven years ago, my parents and I heard the words that no parents should ever have to hear: “Your child has cancer.” I was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a tissue cancer, in my left cheek. After diagnosis, I underwent several surgeries, weeks of radiation, and a year and a half of chemotherapy treatments in order to fight off the cancer. While in the hospital, I watched friends that I had made while staying there come in one day, and be gone next time I came in. I didn’t fully understand when I was younger that unlike me, still fighting, these friends had lost their battle with cancer. All I knew was that I was lucky to still be alive and fighting, and that every day I survived was a gift. Even at such a young age, this experience had taught me that I should live every day of my life like it was my last one.
Being so young, I didn’t know how much cancer would truly affect my life, besides the physical changes of losing my hair and having it grow back different than before, and having my growth stunted, just to name a few aspects. I didn’t come to understand fully what effect cancer would have on my life until much later, about ten years after my diagnosis. The event that made me realize this affect didn’t even directly involve me, but a close friend of mine. She told me when she found the summer before my junior year that her uncle had been diagnosed with Stage 4 bone cancer, and wasn’t given much time to live. The news devastated her, but it hit me hard also because I had become close with her family, and I knew her uncle and his three young boys well. Even though he wasn’t given much time to live, he is still alive and fighting today. This experience made me think about my own experience with cancer. Because of these two experiences, I have come to believe that I was given a gift of being able to survive cancer, and I should use that gift to help other people who would be going through situations similar to the one I faced. This belief has motivated me to want to work in the Hematology/Oncology division at Cincinnati Children’s hospital, where I would be working with pediatric cancer patients, experiencing things similar to what I did eleven years ago.