...From hallucinations, to hundreds of needle pokes, to tears, to laughter, to fear, to joy, going through cancer as a child is something that will forever change you. In many ways experiencing something as terrifying as cancer can impact you both positively, as well as negatively. Had I told you what your future would hold during your freshman year, you would have laughed. The stubborn stupid side of you refused to believe that anything wrong could happen to you. Afterall, as a three sport athlete running miles upon miles each day, as well as pushing yourself to limits during soccer games, all while weightlifting, made you believe you were invincible. That competitive spirit helped you push through the pain and go on living your life to the...
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...Cancer. To some, the word sends chills down their spine but to others its just a very tragic disease. Growing up we hear about people being diagnosed with cancer and think “ what are the odds that this disease will affect my life?”, none right? Well I know for sure that growing up I never thought that I would hear the words “I have cancer”. I had just arrived home from school when my mom sat me down to talk. I noticed her left leg shaking and her cheeks turning a light peach red. As I stared deep into her eyes, all I could think about was the amount of homework I had to do that night. Then suddenly the world stopped spinning as these three words escaped her mouth. When I came back to what was now my reality, tears were trapped in my eyes but I stayed...
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...every three persons will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime. However, up to 70 per cent of cancers can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle, proper diet, sport and exercise and the avoidance of risk factors such as over-exposure to the sun and tobacco use. Despite the possible escape from this terminal disease, however, many individuals carry on through life with the common mentality of "it's not going to happen to me." Such was the case of 55-year-old cancer survivor Violet Galloway, a Canadian woman, before she was diagnosed with breast cancer almost 10 years ago. "Before my diagnosis, it was just pie in the sky," remarks Galloway. "Something happened to somebody else, that was somebody else's problem and I had no association with it. " Her world changed drastically in 1994. "It was a huge shock when they told me because it hadn't been in my family at all," she recalls of the ordeal. "My first reaction was one of disbelief, and then I just assumed I was going to die." Galloway is not the first individual to assume the worst. Many are unaware that people live through cancer and that diagnosis is not necessarily a death sentence. Galloway recalls the day she was diagnosed, and how she found immediate support from the Canadian Cancer Society. "My doctor told me that there was a 'Reach to Recovery' support group, so I phoned and found out that they were meeting that night," she explains. "I grabbed my husband by the hand and we went to the meeting...
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...“I hope that there will be a day when cancer is only a zodiac sign” is one of my favorite quotes because one day cancers’ only use will be because of your zodiac sign and not of a horrible disease and lives it has caused. Curing cancer is one of my dreams that I have had all my life for a very long time is to cure cancer. There are so many people in this world that have died from this horrible disease year after year and so many people that have lost their loved ones but there is still no cure. My mission is to become one of the many doctors/researchers to help cure this disease.One of the many reasons why I want to help cure this disease is because I have had many relatives that have died of this disease. First, my grandmother which died of...
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...that they are going to Disney World is utterly life-changing. As an assistant manager for a princess party business, I get to dress up and give these little girls this life-changing news on a regular basis. These events are organized by the Make a Wish Foundation and the little girls are hospital patients with terminal cancer. While seeing their faces light up when they see me is one of the best parts of my job, what one of these precious kids made me realize about myself is absolutely priceless. The first time I volunteered for an event for the Make a Wish Foundation, my life completely changed. A little girl with leukemia had just been given the clearance to go on the vacation, but she still didn’t know. As soon as she saw me she stopped dead in her tracks, then sprinted toward me and gave me the biggest hug I could ever receive. I told her why I was there, and gave her the big news, and there wasn’t a dry eye at the whole party. I spent the rest of the time getting to know her, and I had never met someone so full of life and sparkle. Despite going through one of the hardest things imaginable, she was the happiest person I’ve ever met. When it was time for me to go, I knelt down and made her pinky promise that I would see her again. She promised with a giggle and hugged me goodbye, but I couldn’t...
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...to raise money for cancer a few weeks ago, I heard someone begin to sing “Wind beneath My Wings.” Hearing such an inspirational song made me start to think about the “wind beneath my wings,” my mom. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word Influence as “the power to affect others.” To me, my mom embraced this power. One look at her gorgeous white smile could make any obscure day instantly brighter for those around her, and especially for me. She possessed an overwhelming nature that could never be shaken; she was truly a pure, gentle soul. It is amazing how time can fly by without any notice or warning. One day our lives are routine and orderly and then another day they change drastically. Losing someone close to us often leaves us finally realizing what life is truly about. Most of us have at least one circumstance in life that totally transforms our perspective of the world. Looking back, I clearly understand how watching my mom battle cancer for her final year of life completely altered my outlook about everything around me. IN THIS OPENING PARAGRAPH, SHE BEGINS WITH THE RECOLLECTION OF AN OCCASION THAT PROMPTED A MEMORY OF HER MOTHER WHO IS NOW DECEASED. SHE ALSO USED DEFINITION TO GET ACROSS HER FEELING ABOUT A WORD AND THEN RELATE THAT TO HER MOTHER. HER LEAD IN INFORMATION CAPTURES THE READER’S ATTENTION AND SETS UP HER THESIS STATEMENT --- THE LAST SENTENCE OF THE PARARGRAPH. Throughout my senior year of high school, in her battle against cancer, my...
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...Taking life for granted is something that everyone does, whether you know it or not. For me, this all changed March 15, 2011. Cancer is a life changing disease that most families will interact. Although, I never thought that this would happen to my family, and especially my mom. On March 9, my mom went got her first mammogram. At the age of 40, she thought it was time that she one. She didn’t think that she would get the results that she did. At 3:30pm on March 15th, the doctor’s office called my mom, to tell her that they had news and that she needed to go see him as soon as possible. My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and was told that she needed to have surgery to remove the cancerous tumour. A tumour the size of a golf ball was to be taken out 3 weeks after. This was a life changing experience for my family. My grandma had died from Lung Cancer a few years back, and never thought that the same disease would affect my mom, especially at her age. We didn’t think that it was possible for my mom to have Cancer. Between the time that she found out she had Cancer, to the time of her surgery, our house was very stressful. No one really knew what to think about what was happening. It was the hardest to explain it to my brothers, who are too young to fully understand. We knew that my mom wasn’t going to die, but it was hard to explain that to them. April 6th I took the day off school to be at the Bluewater Health Hospital in Sarnia, Ontario, for it was the day of my mom’s surgery...
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...I have always had a fear of failure. I would do just enough to make it by without putting in too much effort. Basically, I was always just going through the motions of life without really living. Then last year God took me on a journey, one that would change my whole outlook on life. On May 11, 2015, I had gastric bypass surgery. I had always been overweight and I have always struggled trying to lose the weight. After surgery I was excited to start becoming healthier. Then in July I was sent to a gynecologist for excessive menstrual bleeding. He ordered an ultrasound and it showed that I had uterine fibroids, one was about the size of a tennis ball. He said that I needed to have a hysterectomy. Needless to say as a woman who has always suffered from extremely bad cycles I was ecstatic! I had that surgery in August and September 10th, I went to my...
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...April 28, 2013 was the day that my life changed forever, that was the day that I found out that my mom had breast cancer. She sat my sister and me down on the living room couch, took a deep breath, and anxiously said, “I was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer.” The words were devastating, but I could tell by her unsettled voice that they were hurting her more. I was stunned, but at the same time I had been noticing a change in her demeanor. She kept saying that she was going to be fine, it wasn’t terminal, and that I needed to focus on going into high school in the next four months. However, high school was the last thing on my mind. I was much more perturbed about my mom. She is my role model and I don’t know where I’d be without her. She taught me how to be brave, confident, strong, and to never lose hope,...
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...ARTICLE IN PRESS Social Science & Medicine 58 (2004) 1647–1657 Understanding breast cancer stories via Frank’s narrative types Roanne Thomas-MacLean* Dalhousie University Family, Medicine Teaching Unit, Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital, P.O. Box 9000, Priestman St. Fredericton, NB Canada E3B 5N5 Abstract While breast cancer narratives have become prevalent in Western culture, few researchers have explored the structure of such narratives, relying instead on some form of thematic analysis based upon content. Although such analyses are valuable, Arthur Frank (The Wounded Storyteller, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1995) provides researchers with an additional means of studying stories of illness, through the examination of their structures. In this article, the author applies Frank’s work to a phenomenological study of embodiment after breast cancer. Frank’s three narrative types are used to enhance understanding of the ways in which stories are culturally constructed, using data collected through one focus group discussion and two in-depth interviews with each of 12 women who had experienced breast cancer. The author then conveys the significance of this form of analysis for future research. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Breast cancer; Qualitative and narrative Introduction Frank (1995) writes that those who are ill ‘‘need to become storytellers in order to recover the voices that illness and its treatment often take away’’...
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...drunk) The First Big Move A. Working for LOWE’s * B. Buying a car What did you do after you left school? A. Working B. Going to college C. Dealing with my friends illness Do you have your own family now? A. Current marriage What are your personal, professional, and academic goals? A. Sharing my experience as a sales manager Summary-related information A. Approaching early family experience in terms of the influence of parents on development in adulthood B. Commenting upon the existential experience of disease C. Outlining the psychological challenges and responsibilities of marriage as a stage of development in adulthood * * Friday’s Reflective Paper * Who am I? What life experiences made me who I am today? Was it my family, my social environment where I went to school, the groups, or organizations that I belonged to, or was it certain life events that shaped me? * This paper is my attempt to show that my family and social environment, my life experiences from childhood to present influenced me to be the person that I am today and who I will be in the future. As I reflect upon my life, at the age of twenty-nine, I have come to the conclusion that my family and social environment when growing up, surviving life in my twenties, and getting married in my twenties are the main social influences and life events that have shaped who I am today and who I want to become in the future. Every one of these experiences has given me...
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...like a ton of bricks and that devil-like word consumed my every thought. Cancer. Cancer. Cancer. By virtue of it’s meaning and the way my family was reacting I knew the word could not be associated with anything positive, but I never considered that this simple world would flip my world upside down and inside out with no means of controlling the inevitable outcome. My grandmother was the most influential woman I have ever known. She was kind, honest, giving, and was always willing to spend time with my sister and I. She’d cared for us, even if she always stole our Cheetos. She gave us “junk boxes” full of all kinds of interesting trinkets for Christmas, and delivered many hugs and kisses which we never ever complained about. Her obsession with gardening was passed to my mother and...
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...When people ask me what my major is and what I wish to pursue as my career, I tell them I want to become the best nurse I can possibly be. Particularly a Pediatric Oncology Nurse, if anyone is asking for specifics. My answer is then followed by a “why?” and I simply comment back with “because there is no better feeling than knowing that I have the opportunity to help others and make a difference in their lives.” Being a nurse comes with hardships, with discouragement, with disappointment, and most importantly with heart breaks. Being a nurse means that you vow to do your best everyday at work. It means that you will not give up on yourself, and mainly your patient. A nurse comes with a lot of responsibility but there is no other job I would rather want. Working with children...
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...My Hero Almanda Larkin ENG121 MICHAEL SLOTEMAKER APRIL 11, 2015 MY HERO Hero’s come in different forms and occasions. Someone who has helped you learn new meanings of life, and what living is all about. My hero is my cousin KJ, he showed up at a what I thought would be the worst time of my life. But what I did not know was that his presence was just what I needed and he taught me to appreciate all things in my life. I remember this day like it was yesterday, as my body on that cold winter day in December was numb. My mind was also full of confusion and distraught. Around noon my mother got a call from my aunt, stating that my grandmother had just passed away from her battle of cancer. My grandmother had fought her battle for 3 years and during Thanksgiving dinner, a month before she passed, she had let us all knows that she would not be with us for Christmas. We all played it off and told her to quit talking nonsense and foolishness. But little did we know that she was tired of her fight and was ready to go home to live with the Lord. I often ask myself “how did she know that?” I was only 16 at the time and had no knowledge of what cancer was. If I had did some research at the time I would have known that in the final stages of cancer most patients experience fatigue, loss of appetite, confusion, sickness, and lots of pain. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/coping-with-cancer/dying/decisions/managing/managing-your-symptoms During...
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...A lot of research has been done during the last decade to understand the role of positive thinking on health and death. Current studies revealed that stress can trigger irregular heart beats that can lead to sudden death. It is no mystery that stress causes a lot of issues. A new research has studied over 600 people with heart diseases. Their assignment was to complete a survey about their mood and overall attitude. The results were clear; people with the highest scores of happiness were more likely to exercise and were less likely to die during a five-year follow-up period.1 Thoughts are very powerful - the sooner we realize that the sooner we can start living the life of our dreams. Is positive thinking enough to change a life? No, because there are two components of the mind that are very different from each other. There is the conscious mind and the sub-conscience mind. The conscious mind is our creative mind . The sub-conscious mind is equivalent to a tape recorder. It records experiences and plays it to us. The sub-conscious mind is more powerful because it has all the programs that are not always supporting us but that we believe in, which is the source of our problems. An example of a programing is driving a car. The person driving does not think about the techniques after a while. An automatic- behavior occurs. A program that is not serving us is the believe that we are controlled by our genes. We put ourselves in a position of a victim whereas the truth is that...
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