There are certain facts in life that will never change. These facts define our world, give us reasons for actions and behaviours. Definitions and wording may evolve, but the facts always stay the same. The earth orbits around the sun, humans are 60% water, tomatoes are disgusting, and I had childhood cancer. That’s how I’ve always seen my cancer. A fact. A part of my life that exists as a constant, unchangeable fact. At age ten when I was first diagnosed and going through treatment, that was my view. It was something to accept as a certain, concrete truth I would have to adapt to. This perspective I’ve learned of accepting facts and learning to adapt is how I view life.

When I was going through treatment my entire life was disrupted. Instead of being a normal kid who was able to hang out with friends and do after school clubs, I had to travel two hours every day for radiation therapy and doctors’ appointments. I was faced with a situation that I could not avoid or run away from and I accepted the fact that my life had to change and I learned to adapt. I asked my teachers for help, I found support in friends and family, I did homework during drives to treatment, and reviewed math while waiting for MRis. The challenges as a child taught me how to keep moving forward and stay motivated when faced with changed reality.

I’ve been in remission for eight years now with no recurrences, but cancer is something that still impacts my life. Cancer is a fact that I’ve become used to, it’s a fact that sometimes feels no more impactful than the fact my hair is brown, other times it feels bigger than a mountain. In June 2024, my doctors noticed a spot and broken blood vessels on my MRI. The spot wasn’t cancerous, it was a result of my radiation therapy that they would have to monitor. Before I went off to college my doctors warned me that I wouldn’t be able to be as risky as other college students. Every all nighter I pulled, poor food chose, and party I could go to could hurt my already damaged brain. It made me feel like I was losing control over my life again. But, my mindset kept me grounded, I moved forward and didn’t let the fear take over. Cancer showed me life is full of facts and events you cannot change, but you can adapt to them and create solutions.

Looking to the future, this perspective has shaped my goals. I’m in college for architecture and I eventually want to go into environmental architecture, a field that focuses specifically on making architecture more sustainable. I’ve grown up in a world where the fact of global warming and damage done to the environment is undeniable. Oceans continue warming, species continue to go extinct, and people seem to grow more apathetic toward finding a solution. I could accept the inevitability of it all and just let the environment worsen, but I won’t. Through my cancer I’ve learned to accept reality and then find solutions. In my perspective I accept the world at its current state and look for ways to halt and reverse the damage done by humans. For me that is my goal of going into environmental architecture. I want to help people transition to a greener life, and environmental architecture provides that route. I want to believe it will be a part of the solution to the environmental disaster that is the modem century.

Cancer has undeniably taken away a part of my childhood by making me face a reality most don’t experience till adulthood, and this will always impact my life. It has also given me a perspective that has guided my recovery, return to normality, and shaped my future goals. My experience has taught me to accept certain realities, but it has also taught me that it doesn’t prevent me from trying to affect change and adapt to create solutions and a better future.