Understanding a cancer diagnosis
For so long, I had viewed my story through the prism of
my first encounter with cancer in 2009 and the gratitude with thankfulness for
not only having survived but thrived when at the time of diagnosis research
studies indicated my kind of situation rarely gave survivors another ten years.
This time last year, my request for a routine blood test
began another journey to a new cancer diagnosis, over four months through tests
and investigations, I learnt in June by an inadvertent medical disclosure of
adenocarcinoma of the prostate.
Choosing and curating the people with whom to navigate
the journey through the diagnosis and the treatment of cancer is a strange
thing, people generally do not understand cancer and the way you present may
not essentially indicate how seriously ill you are. Maybe, experience is the
best teacher, if the observer is not self-absorbed. [World Cancer Day: What
Is Cancer?]
Living a cancer reality
You take each day as it comes, the process of recovery
after treatment is long and you can find yourself impatient when you realise
you do not have the reserve of energy that deceptively comes in bursts and
then deserts you literally abruptly.
Along the way, I have had such amazing support and
understanding; the theme of World
Cancer Day seeks to “create a world where we look beyond the disease and
see the person before the patient.” In general, I have been seen and there are
times I have wrestled with the experts to be seen, this has been encapsulated
in the assertion that “It’s my body first before it’s your guinea pig.”
When I think of cancer, I think of many who have not been
as fortunate, who suffered in ways impossible to articulate, then of those of
us who have come out at the other end with our unique stories, and the united
effort of medicine aggregating the body of knowledge acquired from all
experiences to battle cancer to victory for our humanity.
More importantly, I focus on faith and hope, a future
better than today where cancer is caught early and treatable. The best
situation would be to avoid cancer completely. My advocacy is getting more
black men to talk about Men’s things honestly, freely,
confidently, and proactively for our lives and those we love. Here’s to World
Cancer Day 2025.
Blog - Men's things -
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