Childhood Cancer

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Childhood Cancer Survivors

Future Planning

Cancer treatment forces many youths and their families to drop future plans to focus on surviving the present. When treatment ends, an adjustment in mindset occurs. Some survivors resume working toward pre-cancer goals—athletics, studies, relationships. Others find that they avoid thinking about the future because expectations of a long, healthy life have been changed by cancer. Commitment to a relationship or a long-term goal may be difficult. Thinking about having children may be complicated. Previously-mentioned resources such as support groups or counseling with mental health professionals may support future-planning efforts. Sometimes survivors alter their life plans because cognitive or physical disabilities limit future possibilities. It may be difficult for survivors, their families, and friends to accept that the price they paid for life has irrevocably changed the future.

In contrast, sometimes the cancer experience opens up new visions of the future. For example, cancer often gives children or teens their first glimpse of the medical world. Exposure to the helping professions and the medical world sometimes sparks an interest that blossoms into a career.

My treatment ended right before I applied to colleges. After I was diagnosed and met the other patients at the hospital, I was inspired to go into immunology and choose a major that would put me on a life path that would enable me to give back to the cancer community. Instead of learning about astrophysics in my free time, I started watching videos on microbiology. The doctors recommended taking a gap year and stopping soccer for a year, but I was really stubborn back then, and continued everything. Surviving cancer has given me a sense of purpose, a goal of giving back to the community that supported me, and helped me appreciate the special people in my life.

 

Being a childhood cancer survivor comes with a lot of responsibility. Like it or not, we are the ones looked up to by the children currently going through treatment. This can absolutely be daunting, stressful, and quite overwhelming. It is a duty that you may not have signed up for. However, it can be an exceptional blessing. Looking back to my own treatment, I was constantly being inspired by the survivors I met. It allowed me to visualize myself as a survivor someday too and gave me encouragement that helped me push through to the finish line. These were people who could relate to what I was going through.

Since being pronounced cancer-free, I have had wonderful opportunities to give back to organizations that helped me throughout my treatment. This has truly been life-changing for me. Getting to meet current childhood cancer patients has allowed me to fully embrace that responsibility of helping children the way I was helped as a child. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to look into ways to give back. It can make such an incredible impact on not only your life, but the lives of so many children as well.

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