When Living With Serious Illness, What is Considered Courageous?

With the start of a new decade, a brain cancer patient discovers what may be the most courageous way to move forward in his life.

BY Jeremy Pivor

PUBLISHED January 21, 2020

Jeremy Pivor is a graduate student in the UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco Joint Medical Program. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of twelve, had a recurrence when he was 23, and is now undergoing experimental treatments for another life-limiting recurrence. In addition to being passionate about climate justice and ocean conservation, Jeremy advocates for the brain tumor and young adult cancer communities through writing, speaking, fundraising, and lobbying with groups like the National Brain Tumor Society, Dana Farber, UCSF and others. You can follow his journey at jeremys-journey.com or on Twitter @JeremyPivor.

When living with serious illness, what is considered courageous?

"Don't let cancer define you," is one of the most common expressions among the cancer community. Throughout my journey living with brain cancer since the age of 12, I have felt pressured to prevent cancer from changing the direction of my life. I thought that persevering in spite of my diagnosis was a courageous act.

As the new decade begins, I've reflected more on the meaning of courage as I embark on an enormous transition in my life. For the past two and a half years, I have been living in California while studying in a joint medical and master's degree program at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco. My goal coming into this program was to become a physician to work at the intersection of human and environmental health. However, my path took a turn when I was diagnosed with a second recurrence of brain cancer in March 2018, just nine months into my studies. Two months later, I had an awake brain surgery.

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