True Power: Surviving Cancer

One of my close friends was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the young age of 22 and in the middle of her first two years of med school.

After having lunch with her today, I realized how powerful people can be. She is long past her last chemo treatment and has been recovering. On top of all that, she survived her second year of med school and the ups and downs of personal relationships including close friends, classmates and a boyfriend now ex. Right now, she's still figuring out what to do with herself in terms of what she wants out of life and whether what she has in front of her is "fulfilling."

In reality, the power was obvious not so much by the way she came across to me while we were talking, but by the stark contrast of today's meeting compared to the way she was immediately after her final chemo treatment back in February when we went out for some coffee. I realized that giving up on life is very real, whether caused by life's disappointments or recovery (or non-recovery) from a deadly disease. Getting up in the morning is sometimes hard to do, but when you choose to do it, you are always one step closer to genuine empowerment. She has a ways to go for full emotional recovery, but her life perspective is now much different than it was last year, and she still pushes forward.