My Teacher’s Name Was Cancer

Cancer has a funny way of teaching life lessons. As I near the five-year mark of my second – and, I hope, my last – cancer diagnosis, I thought it would be an appropriate time to reflect on what I’ve learned. Here are three lessons cancer has taught me. 



1. I was never alone.

A cancer diagnosis turns your world upside down. Once you hear those words – “you have cancer” – your life is filled with doctor’s appointments, scans, tests, medications, treatments, surgery. As a result, relationships can be put on the backburner, quality time with friends and loved ones crowded out to make room for lifesaving measures.

However, along my journey, I realized I didn’t fight alone. Though I was alone in chemotherapy, alone in the radiation machine, I had a team of people cheering me on. Family, friends, my medical team, fellow cancer fighters, all were behind me, supporting me. 

Though often solitary, I was never alone. 

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