"Healing Teenage
Cancer’s Scars"
By: Jane E. Brody
Source: The New York Times
Being a teenager is tough, but being
a teenager with cancer taking over is a challenge that grows progressively. When
the results for the treatment are uncertain, teens fear the idea of dying at an
early age. Even with the chance of being cured, these young adults have to face
the real world, where they come face to face with emotional, educational, and
social circumstances. In addition to that, these young adults have to cope with
the idea of losing people whom they love because those certain people cannot
handle that given situation and added to that is trying to keep up with
educational matters whilst on treatment.
The
article mentions a girl named Sophie who at the age of fifteen was told she had
osteosarcome, bone cancer. After the stage of questioning why this was
happening to her passed, she was more than ever determined to continue her
education and graduate. Although most of the time was spent in the hospital,
she was able to maintain outstanding grades and SAT scores high enough to gain
acceptance into Cornell University. Today, Sophie is twenty years old, majoring
in biology and genetics and about to volunteer at a hospital. She wishes to be
identified as a normal person and not someone who has had cancer. She is humble
and independent and has this determination to do as much as she possibly can.
Sophie said, “The
greatest challenge teens with cancer face is social isolation. Many of their
peers are uncomfortable with illness, and many teens with cancer may withdraw
from their friends because they feel they are so different and don’t fit in” (Brody,
1). Group therapy sessions like, Teen Impact, prevent the patients from feeling
this sense of loneliness and also help them live as normally as possible. Dr.
Kuperberg says, "For many, cancer is a chronic illness, with echoes that
last long after treatment ends. There are emotional side effects — a sense of
vulnerability, a fear of relapse and death, and an uncertainty about the future
that can get in the way of pursuing their hopes and dreams. And there can be
physical and cognitive side effects when treatment leaves behind physical
limitations and learning difficulties. But often there is post-traumatic growth
that motivates teens in a very positive way. There's a lot of altruism, a
desire to give back, and empathy, a sensitivity to what others are going through
and a desire to help them” (Brody, 1). Another issue of cancer is the threat to
the teens future reproductive potential. For a long time now, boys who have undergone
puberty, can have their sperm frozen before cancer treatment. Now, doctors wish
to try a new and similar experiment on females, like freezing part or all of an
ovary and then implanting it after cancer treatment ends. This
article is an important read, because it raises the awareness of cancer and its
difficult challenges. It shows the reader how precious life actually is.
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