My Strength To Battle Cancer Came From The Most Unlikely Source

I was fooled by a 7-year-old into thinking that chemotherapy was easy. In 2006, I was fresh out of journalism school and eager to cover whatever my central Missouri newspaper gig threw at me. When my editor assigned me a story on Tim Grant and what would be his final battle with neuroblastoma, I didn't know what to expect. During my first two-hour ride to the hospital to document one of Tim's chemo sessions, I tried to picture chemotherapy. This was a pre-"50/50" world. When I thought "chemo," I imagined Tim in a steel tube or iron lung being bombarded with cancer-fighting radiation -- which also sapped his strength and youth on a daily basis. You can imagine my surprise when I got there with the news team; Tim lifted his shirt, and the hospital staff connected him to an IV. For hours, Tim sat there getting a drip, playing video games, napping -- you name it. He was a normal kid who got some medicine through his chest; no big deal to the Superman shirt-wearing boy. Fast forward to 2012. I'm visiting Chicago for a friend's wedding. I notice some lumps on my neck. Suddenly, the walls of a boutique on Michigan Avenue start pulsating and it's pretty clear I'm not right. Over the following few days, I undergo a litany of tests and, once the results come back, a doctor tells me over the phone that I have stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma. I immediately sigh in relief and go back to work. Don't get me wrong: I didn't want cancer, but everyone says that if you have to get one, this i...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news