Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Jason Hungerford speak about his lived experience surviving cancer and his process of recovery afterward. I found his presentation singularly moving because of both the gravity of Mr. Hungeroford’s experience, and his remarkable candor in sharing it. Cancer has been prominent in the media for my entire life, however, before hearing Mr. Hungerford speak, I had never personally heard anyone speak about their own experience with cancer, let alone about its effects on their lives after treatment ceases. Even as someone who has spent his entire life in the “medical world,” due to my disability and my mother’s profession as a doctor, I realized during the speech just how little even I think about the continued impact medical diagnoses, especially cancer, can have on the lives of those they impact. I believe that we as a society, as well as the medical profession, ought to pay more attention to just that.
Rose Scholars Spring 2019
Endless possibilities
Talking to a cancer survivor is an amazing experience in my opinion. Having had a family member go through cancer and survive, I can very much relate to cancer survivors and their unreal grit to get through it. It is also very humbling to learn about their experience, thus making one re-evaluate their life
Being able to talk to a cancer survivor was a very enriching experience for me. I felt it very inspiring to learn about the struggles he had to go through and how strong he has become because of them. When he was giving the talk, I was very impressed by how he didn’t let the cancer take away his life, but instead it let him gain a new meaning to life.
I completely relate to what you experienced. I had no previous personal experiences with cancer so it was an eye-opening discussion for me. I agree that we as humans need to be more cautious about the biases we associate with certain terms and words.