Tyron Dawson – Teen Cancer Survivor – Life Beyond a Cancer Diagnosis in Matric
Beginning your matric year is supposed to invoke feelings of anticipation as your adult life lies before you, excitement at the prospect of your time as a pupil soon coming to an end, and a little nervousness as your final exams loom in the near future.
It’s not meant to include a cancer diagnosis…
The signs might have been unassuming at the time: a decline in eyesight, nausea in the mornings, an increase in the frequency and intensity of headaches. You deal with it all symptomatically at first, but soon you realise that there might be something more serious at play.
Then, your GP or one of the specialists you have been seeing raised the possibility that it could be something more, cancer…
Tyron Dawson
It’s confirmed after a barrage of tests, a germ-cell brain tumour…
Suddenly, your entire life fell away. Fear for your health aside, what impacted you the most was how quickly everything changed.
Schooling ended immediately, you’re admitted to hospital, and treatment began.
Fortunately, you had the support of those closest to you, as well as a team of dedicated medical professionals. You threw yourself at every challenge and tried to stay optimistic through it all.
However, your cancer battle doesn’t have to be an ever-gushing torrent of positivity.
You have the right to feel scared or angry. Just remember, you are strong enough to face whatever lies ahead of you. This diagnosis will reveal strength that you never would have thought you possessed. You face each day’s challenges as they arise.
You have the courage and resilience to overcome this, and once you do, you still have the rest of your life ahead of you.
You can go back to school and subsequently attend university; it’s still within your grasp.
However, this isn’t your only option. In our modern society college is also a valid option. You can still build a happy life for yourself.
My journey included a course of chemotherapy that I couldn’t complete for health reasons, radiotherapy that seemed endless, compression fractures in my spine, and an abscess that developed in my leg. I faced months of hospitalisation and physiotherapy, but came out the other side.
I’m still here…
I’ve completed a college course, found employment, become a member of a volunteer group at our local museum, and learnt a foreign language (Swedish).
Above all, my proudest achievement is having a short story I wrote, published. Now I just need to dedicate more time to the novel I’ve been working on for the past few years, but that’s another story…
I still have the occasional off day, but it’s always manageable. My cancer diagnosis no longer defines who I am.
Right now, it might feel as if cancer has spread into every aspect of your life, but this won’t always be the case. This feeling will help give you the focus and strength you need at the moment, but you still have the rest of your life ahead of you.
Your life might not have turned out the way you planned, but it’s a life worth living and can still contain its fair share of joy.
By Tyron Dean Dawson
AYA (Adolescent and Young Adults) Support
Visit the Free2Bme site for resources and stories of hope for teens and young adults…
