When I entered Rutgers University, I thought, “This is the beginning of the rest of my life.” Little did I know that virtually my entire college career I would be battling cancer.
I was sick and had mono symptoms at least twice a month my entire freshman year, developed a lump on my neck the fall semester of my sophomore year, and after a surgery to remove the lump, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. I just turned 20 and I had cancer. I thought my life was over. I kept thinking, “What was I going to do about school?”
I couldn’t pull it together for a couple hours until something clicked and my emotional state took a 180. I realized, why am I going to sit here crying and thinking about everything that was wrong? I’m going to wake up tomorrow and still have cancer, so its time to move on and focus on continuing life and getting better. I went back to school that night and was in the library studying. I knew that I needed to strive for normalcy, or whatever the new normal was going to be. The next day I emailed my professors, dropped a class, fought for parking, and went on disability.