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 …
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 …
On March 20th, 2015, I walked into a cafe near MIT. It was a chilly afternoon, and I wore my beanie to keep my head warm after I lost all my hair following my proton beam radiation treatments. I was looking for a man named Steven Keating. A mutual friend of ours from the National …
A little more than one month ago, May 22nd, was my one-year anniversary since my brain surgery in 2018. It was the day I laid on the operating table, awake, as surgeons mapped out my brain's motor function and removed a section of my tumor. Since I was twelve years old, I’ve had several of these “anniversaries:”
This weekend I am honored to give the keynote speech to open the 16th Annual Young Adult Cancer Conference at Dana Farber. I have benefited immensely from this program, and cannot wait to join everyone tomorrow. My speech will be live-streamed at 9:15AM EST. You can follow via: DFCI webcast or going to the Young …
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I’m sick of being sick. I’m sick of laying on the couch. I’m sick of having to cancel plans I made months, weeks, or days in advance from grabbing a cup of coffee to going on spring break vacation. I’m sick of feeling good for a day or two, thinking I’m on the mend, only to realize I was being tricked. I’m sick of my doctors and I knowing what my symptoms are, but not knowing why. I’m sick of not knowing when I’ll feel better for a sustained amount of time.
