What Cancer Has Taught Me
By Jimmy Fowkes, cancer survivor
On January 11, 2006, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called Medulloblastoma. For several weeks before my diagnosis, I had been experiencing an increasing number of headaches and vomiting. After emergency surgery to remove the tumor, I spent eight days in ICU before being moved to a regular room. When I tried to walk, I found I couldn't stand without my parents' help. After lying in a bed for eight days, my muscles had deteriorated so much that it was excruciating to walk and impossible to keep my balance.
When I got home, I told myself that I would do my absolute best to not let my treatment change my life. After a week at home, I returned to school. For two weeks, I went part-time, and then went back full-time. During this time, I started radiation, which made me more exhausted than I could have possibly imagined. Each day was the same. I would go to school, have radiation, go home, do my homework, and go to bed. Each day I became more and more tired, but the only thing I wanted to do was to keep going.
Four weeks after radiation, I had my first of nine rounds of chemotherapy. Although the chemo wore me down, it wasn't as bad as the radiation. Thankfully, I had little nausea from the treatment, which is normally one of the main side effects. I had two chemotherapy treatments in eighth grade, two during the summer and three in high school so far (I have two more to go and will finish in March 2007). The hardest part of the treatments has been making up the days of school (and all the schoolwork!) that I missed.
As tough as this year has been, it has been the greatest year of my life. One of the highlights was meeting Lance for the first time, when he came to Portland in June. I also participated in the LIVESTRONG Challenge and was the top fundraiser in Portland! Because of my fundraising efforts, I was also able to go to the Ride for Roses bike ride in Austin, Texas.
The LIVESTRONG Challenge gave me back some sense of control over my life. Despite what I'd been through, I could still bike 40 miles and raise money to help other people fighting cancer. I was also inspired by many of the brave people I met who are currently fighting this disease.
Getting cancer has been both the best and worst experience of my life. It was the worst because of the vomiting, the surgery, the recovery, the radiation and the chemotherapy. But it has also been the best experience of my life. Cancer has taught me so much about life:
- To enjoy every minute of every day- To keep fighting no matter what, through the good times and bad- To always have a positive attitude
Cancer has taught me about fear, because I have never been more scared than the night I was diagnosed. But it also taught me that you can believe in yourself and conquer that fear.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) taught me a very valuable lesson as well - that anyone can make a difference. Because of my cancer, I was able to raise money for the LAF, tell my story and inspire people.
If someone told me they could take this whole experience away - the tumor, the surgery, the recovery, the radiation, and the chemotherapy, I wouldn't do it because of how cancer has changed my outlook on life and how it has shaped me as a person.
My name is Jimmy Fowkes. I'm fourteen years old, and I'm a brain cancer survivor.
GO JIMMY GO!!
I just had to share this!
