Survivorship is a word that elicits many emotions for me. after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when I was 16 years old, I was confident I would beat this monster and not let it define who I am as an individual. Taking the reins, I charged into battle, never for one second allowing myself to think I wouldn’t come out victorious. I rang the bell after 6 months of intense treatment and a plethora of surgeries and hospitalizations. I did it! I survived! Now what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Survivorship is such a strong word. When I think about someone being a survivor, I think about them walking away from a traumatic event, unscathed. Sure, they are shaken up, but eventually they move on. While I finished treatment, my body fought against me. I was trapped in an endless cycle of my mind telling me just to get up and move, but my body defying these orders. The never-ending fatigue, the memory loss known as “chemo brain”, the physical pain that blankets me on a daily basis are all stark reminders that I have survived one of the toughest battles, yet must continue to fight to find my new normal. Despite these continuous reminders of harsh treatments I’ve endured, I have remained an active member of my high school cheer team, so I continue to rally others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One year after ringing that glorious bell, I relapsed. But, I was supposed to be a survivor. How did I come to find myself facing this beast again? Though I was now undergoing relapse treatment, I went on to graduate high school with honors. Feeling on top of the world, I was confident as I headed into my stem cell transplant. With the end goal of survivorship at the forefront of my mind, I enrolled in college full time, and even made the college cheer team! My oncology team recommended that I postpone school until after transplant, but I knew that would never be an option for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cancer had already stolen so much from me – I was not going to let it prevent me from achieving my dreams. Though transplant was incredibly challenging, I survived, just as I always have, and ended my first semester as a college freshman with straight A’s. During this short time since my diagnosis, my little brother was diagnosed with Astrocytoma brain cancer, and my mom was continuing her fight against Melanoma and Thyroid cancer. We linked arms tightly together, knowing we were not only bonded by blood, but by cancer as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I choose to define survivorship as someone who has been given a crummy deck of cards, but refuses to fold. Being a survivor isn’t about coming out of a trauma unscathed. It’s about taking the reins and hanging on for dear life. It’s about accepting that we cannot control what is thrown onto our path, but we can control how we choose to face it. It’s about continuing to set goals and achieve them, regardless of what cards you are dealt. I am a survivor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
~ Baylie Hankins<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Survivorship is a word that elicits many emotions for me. after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when I was 16 years old, I was confident I would beat this monster and not let it define who I am as an individual. Taking the reins, I charged into battle, never for one second allowing myself to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}