How not being a writer and still writing helped me through cancer and cancer treatment.
BY Ryan Hamner
PUBLISHED June 08, 2018
Ryan Hamner is a four-time survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma, a musician and a writer. In 2011, he wrote and recorded, "Where Hope Lives" for the American Cancer Society and the song for survivors, "Survivors Survive" used in 2015 for #WorldCancerDay. Currently, he operates his website for those affected by cancer, 2surviveonline.com and drinks a ridiculous amount of coffee per day.
"Men all do about the same thing when they wake up," John Steinbeck once wrote, but do they? Well, I'm sure Mr. Steinbeck is very much on to something with his statement.
I believe that waking up with some sort of drive – the want to achieve something – has gotten me through cancer and its effects, no doubt. I don't know how I've done it though, maybe it's how I was raised, maybe it's totally a God-thing, but somehow, I've managed to always get myself up in the morning with a sense of hope and a will to get something done. This doesn't mean I haven't struggled or that it has always been easy.
I mean, let me be clear, I haven't always waked up in the morning, stepped out of bed, heard the birds chirping and thought, "Hey, I'm going to write a lovely song today." At some of my very worst times, I can actually remember waking up and barely even being able to get out of bed. In 2012, I actually remember waking up and wanting to merely walk just a little further down the hospital hallway than I did the day before.
I believe that waking up with some sort of drive – the want to achieve something – has gotten me through cancer and its effects, no doubt. I don't know how I've done it though, maybe it's how I was raised, maybe it's totally a God-thing, but somehow, I've managed to always get myself up in the morning with a sense of hope and a will to get something done. This doesn't mean I haven't struggled or that it has always been easy.
I mean, let me be clear, I haven't always waked up in the morning, stepped out of bed, heard the birds chirping and thought, "Hey, I'm going to write a lovely song today." At some of my very worst times, I can actually remember waking up and barely even being able to get out of bed. In 2012, I actually remember waking up and wanting to merely walk just a little further down the hospital hallway than I did the day before.
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