When my high school friends were learning how to drive, I was sitting through hours of chemotherapy. While they attended Sadie Hawkins dances, I received blood transfusions. I was 16-years-old and I had just been diagnosed with cancer. But I was lucky. I had a favorable prognosis. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for several of the middle-aged and senior patients with whom I shared many conversations.
The chemotherapy administration room was like the proverbial office water cooler, that is if you add highly toxic medication, the scent of sterilized medical equipment, gaunt faces, and “bottomed-out” lab values. Instead of embellished stories of weekend adventures, I listened to life stories, saw pictures of children, grandchildren, and pets, and learned of dreams and regrets. To become friends with so many near the end of their lives leaves a lasting impression on a person, let alone a teenager.
I have been a cancer survivor for more than 10 years and not a day goes by that I don’t remember my battle. There are scars, both physical and mental, but my story has a happy ending. In a little over a year, I will be a pharmacist and I will be able to help patients who are suffering from their own battles.
Honoring their memory
Although I have a personal history with the disease, everyone has a cancer story; we have all been affected in one way or another. The fact is, cancer is a major disease state that cares not about sex, race, age, or background. For 2017, the American Cancer Society estimated that in the United States there would be 1,688,780 new cancer diagnoses and 600,920 cancer deaths. Student pharmacists learn about the medications that treat cancer and the unique mechanisms they each employ, however, in the midst of learning, it is easy to forget the physical, emotional, and psychological toll the disease demands of its victims.
Last January, as I sat in class, I read an article about World Cancer Day. Celebrated each February 4, World Cancer Day is an international day to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. I began reminiscing about what I had endured.
Eventually, as I always do, I found myself thinking about my fellow patients. I could remember their stories, but I could no longer remember their faces. For the second time in my life, I had lost those friends. I was heartbroken. I knew I had to do something to honor their memory.
The video
It was then that an idea was born: create a video to raise cancer awareness in the student pharmacist community. I knew that an ordinary video wouldn’t suffice. After all, cancer is a disease that knows no limitations. My video needed to match in scale. I teamed up with my dear friend and Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy APhA–ASP Chapter International Vice President Hannah Duncan to script a message. Over the course of 2 days, we contacted more than 100 APhA–ASP Chapters across the country to recruit student pharmacists willing to read our message on camera. The response was overwhelmingly positive.
We were desperate for participation, but we received so much more. Along with their video submissions, we received messages of support and stories of how cancer had affected these chapter members’ lives. It was at this time that Hannah and I knew that our project had the potential to be powerful. We received hours’ and hours’ worth of footage from 49 chapters, from Hawaii to Maine and everywhere in between. I worked for hours on end, but finished editing the video in time for World Cancer Day.
When I posted the final video to my chapter’s Facebook page, it immediately went viral. The video reached more than 100,000 profiles and was shared more than 450 times. Our Facebook inbox was flooded with even more messages of support and thanks. The project started as a way for me to pay tribute to those friends I had lost, but it became a means to honor hundreds of thousands of cancer patients that I had never met.
Ultimately, the video meant a great deal for so many: friendships were born, student pharmacists were inspired, and lives were touched.
What I will remember most
When I consider my legacy as a student pharmacist, I won’t think of the nights I lost sleep studying nor of the grades I earned. No. When I consider my legacy, I will remember fondly my involvement in APhA–ASP and the countless friends I have made. I will remember student pharmacists who shared a common passion and the impact they made.
All student pharmacists have the potential to create their own legacies. What will yours be?