Living with brain cancer
Vulnerability is scary. To share my story, and the complex emotions intertwined with my journey, is daunting. When I started this blog during my recurrence in 2014, it served as a platform to update my community spread across the globe. It was also a form of therapeutic reflection. Over time, I didn't expect the impact …
I never thought I would make it to my 30th birthday, but here I am! I don’t mean for this to be a grandiose statement, it’s simply fact. Over the past 18 years since I was diagnosed at the age of 12, I have gone through my first diagnosis followed by surgery, months in the …
Continue reading "On Turning 30 Years Old: Living a life guided by my values"
Hello all, May 12th, 2020 was the last time I sat down to write to you, or in fact write in general. I could say I have been busy, or the combination of my treatments and seizure drugs have made me too fatigued to write, but that wouldn’t be the full truth. To be honest, …
Yesterday I started my first day of work, and today my MRI is stable! A great start to the week. Going into today’s appointments, I was worried. My concern didn’t stem from any physical symptoms, but the fact that there was so much good going on in my life (despite COVID-19): Graduating with my masters, …
On Monday, May 4th, I received an email from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate Division that my thesis was accepted. I was on the edge of my seat holding back my burgeoning excitement. I assumed this was the email I had been waiting for since submitting my thesis a week ago to fulfill my final graduation requirement, …
A month ago, I participated in a live radio show with CURETALKS about the latest in brain tumor treatments and trials. CURETALKS host, Priya Menon, moderated the segment that featured Dr. Nancy Ann Oberheim Bush from UCSF's Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Along with my friend and patient advocate, Adam Hayden, I had the …
Continue reading "Latest in Brain Tumor Treatments and Trials – CURETALKS"
As the new decade begins, I've reflected more on the meaning of courage as I embark on an enormous transition in my life.
This article was originally published in CURE Magazine. Click HERE to go to the publication. I am happy to share that I am now a regular contributor for CURE. This may mean that a lot of my writing (aside from medical updates) will get shared on CURE or another publication before landing on my blog. …
Last week I returned from Iowa City, Iowa where I attended the Examined Life conference. Little did I know that Iowa City is one of the only UNESCO City's of Literature in the world! The Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa pioneered the teaching of creative writing. Writers like Flannery O'Connor and John …
This year I am serving once again as a patient ambassador for EndWell. EndWell is an innovative symposium to transform the end-of-life into a more human-centered experience. My time with EndWell last year was transformational, and I look forward to participating in the conference again on December 5th. I recently wrote an article for the …
It has been a while since I last posted on my blog. At the beginning of the fall I started experimenting with Instagram to show my day to day life of living with brain cancer. You can follow my profile and check it out HERE. Also, this fall semester I have been balancing the fatigue …
