Brain Cancer-Personal Narrative Analysis

Everyone hears the word “Cancer” and automatically thinks death? Imagine being told you have cancer a month before Christmas and having to start chemotherapy right away. That was me at age 16 barely a junior in High School, they say high school is supposed to be a great experience. And it was at the beginning which was my freshman and sophomore year. I was that girl athlete with lots of friends who went day by day not caring about my health I would eat lots of junk food and stay up late at night. I come from a Hispanic family single parent my mom and 4 siblings 3 girls and one boy. Two had already gotten married and there was only 3 left at home including me. My mom would work out in the fields so sometimes she 'd come home late, therefore

My neurosurgeon, husband, daughter, and I agreed to a plan. On February 18, he will be removing the right side of my hardware from my skull down to C-2/3 where he will saw the rod in half and leave the rest of my fusion. The right side of my fusion has failed. While removing the fusion, he will be taking four screws out of my brain and one out of my neck. My fusion was placed nine years and two months ago; therefore, it has been in my body for a long time. He is leaving in the left side of my fusion, which is from my skull to C-5 because my neck is not stable enough without it. After he removes the titanium hardware, he will be taking a cadaver bone as well as removing bone marrow from my hip to rebuild my skull. He has to cut down the

“Sarah has cancer,” is a phrase that changed my life. I was barely ten years old when my dad picked me up from volleyball practice to explain why my little sister had been in the hospital so much. At the time, Sarah was eight and had been in and out of hospitals and various doctor’s appointments over the past two months to try and figure out what was going on. Learning she had cancer was both a relief and burden. The feeling of relief occurred because now we finally knew what was wrong, but it was a burden because you hear about cancer in the elderly, not in eight year-old girls that love sports.

There is nothing anyone could have done. My sister didn’t mean to get cancer, and she couldn’t have stopped it from growing. I just wish things had happened differently and that my entire family wouldn’t be turned away from me now.

Recently I discovered that I have brain tumor. My surgery is scheduled in two weeks, unfortunately this requires an incision in my frontal lobe. This will cause loss of intelligence, personality, and behavior. I have Fourteen days left with a fully functioning brain, wanting to spend this time doing what I love made me decide what to do. In this two week period I will focus on family, friends, and some of my favorite activities. The first five days are going to be spent with my family at Smith Mountain Lake. Following the time at the lake I will rent a beach house and pack it full of my longtime friends. Lastly in the final days leading up to my surgery I will be in the mountains doing what I personally enjoy most. Overall I will be relaxing,

No one thinks that it will happen to them. No one thinks that one day it might be them walking into the doctor’s office, only to hear those three horrifying words – “You have cancer.” To say that cancer changed my life is an enormous understatement. Cancer took me on an insane roller coaster for two years.. turning, twisting, jerking. I never thought it would happen to me. I heard those three lethal words, but they were not spoken to me. My father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December of 2014.

Five years ago in 2012 my Aunt Mary died from cancer. Cancer had consumed her whole body. It started in her liver and spread to different organs and even reached her brain. When she found out she had cancer she was told she only had a few months to live. I had just seen her on a trip we had before we found out she had cancer and that was the last time I saw her.

As a child, I did not have many friends, I was bullied throughout my entire childhood which caused me to shut most of the world out. I began to seclude myself from everything and everyone, except my grandfather. My grandfather quickly became my security blanket, my shoulder to cry on, and my best friend. He spent most of his time comforting me and telling me that I was too precious for this world. After a while, I began to believe those words and my confidence grew immensely. However, at the raw age of thirteen, my grandfather was diagnosed with stage three brain cancer and was given only a year to live. At that point, everything started to decay for me. I did not care about anything anymore, whether that was school, my family, or myself.

My alarm went off at 6:00 am. "Thank God it's Friday," I whispered to myself as I got ready for the day. We still haven't found a case yet, this was just going to be another boring day at the hospital I guess. After I got ready I got in my car and drove to New York Mercy Hospital, which was only about 5 miles away. "Hey Jacobs, we got a case." Wilson said, handing me the file. I worked with two other Doctors; Zachary Wilson and James Miller. We take the medical cases that no other doctors can figure out. I got a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. "23 year old girl comes in after continually banging her head on the wall, says she had no idea

You never realize how evil cancer truly is until it affects you or your family. I was four when cancer first affected me, stage four leukemia. My two year old cousin Conor was on the verge of death, and I had absolutely no clue. For the first nine months of his fight all I knew that he was sick, I assumed he had a cold, not fighting for his life. When I was five my mom sat me down to tell me that Conor was not going to make it, and that my brother and I were going with her to Albany to visit him. His bones were sticking out, his head looked like a bowling ball, and his skin was a pale blue. He looked like a child in a concentration camp during World War II. Honestly if you were to think of what a dead child looked like, that was him. That was the first time I realized that my mom was right, and that Conor was not going to make it.

One of the most difficult things I’ve ever experienced has been my battle with cancer. When I was 21 I was preparing to submit my mission papers. What was supposed to be a simple physical exam, turned into an unexpected battle. In October 31, 2013 my doctors diagnosed me with papillary cancer. I had surgery, and a couple weeks after had radiation treatment. Months later I was told I was cancer free, and I received my mission call. I was assigned to serve in the Colorado Denver South Mission. Unfortunately a week after I got my mission call, I was told that my cancer was back, and had actually spread to my lymph nodes; its next target would be my lungs, thus making my goal to serve a mission seem further from my reach. I went through the process

After a while of sitting in my grandparents living room mindlessly playing with my toys I decided to get up. I walked towards the commotion going on in the small hallway connecting the living room to the kitchen. The gathering of people consisted of my mom, dad, grandpa, and grandma. Curious about what was going on I walked over to the group. I reached my mom and looked up to see that her eyes were bloodshot, as if she had been crying. I looked over to my dad and his face, like everyone else's, was grim. During this time I kept hearing one repeating word, cancer. I started to listen more closely to the conversation going on around me because even at the age of seven I knew that cancer was bad news. I listened intently and heard my mom explain how she had colon cancer.

In 2014, the American public was captivated by the story of a young woman who decided to end her life after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman who had just been married, had been having splitting headaches. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a tumor. Her life became a blur of hospital visits, treatment plans, and research into what she could do. Her doctors came to the conclusion that there was no treatment that could save Maynard’s life. According to an opinion piece that Maynard wrote for CNN, she “quickly decided that death with dignity was the best option for [her] and [her] family” (Maynard). Since she lived in Oregon, the idea of dying on an individual’s terms was acceptable and legal, because of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. Maynard died on Saturday, November 1, 2014.

Almost a year ago I suffered a brain injury by the hands of my own husband. That day has forever changed my life, but in an ironic way it was also for the best. I began seeking The Lord and Praying for strength to get through all the difficulties the days would bring and to my surprise I was able to get through things I never thought I would have to. The struggles in my life are only compounded by the symptoms the brain injury is already showing but for the first time in my life I find complete happiness in The Lord. I am a recovering addict after thirty years of addiction I never thought something such as The Word could help ease the pain I've experienced but it does. My walk with The Lord gets stronger everyday and I know He knows I'd spend

Until 7th grade, twice a year, I found myself laying on the floor pleading for air, while teachers felt sorry for me. I abhorred their “Oh my God, this kid needs help!” Sirens were always on my mind every school year, the rushing of ambulances and EMTs, the single most provoking thought, “I’m not weak,” I said to myself angrily. Now when I hear sirens I get the feeling of helplessness and within a few seconds it becomes determination.