“You must realize that having cancer affects not only you, but everyone who cares for you as well. I had realized this after only one year of treatment, but I don't think I've ever truly understood how hard the experience was for my family.”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“My name is Brett Cordes and I just want to let you know that I'm standing here right now because you saved my life 12 years ago." There. Was. Silence. "I know who you are," his voice quivered just above a whisper as he walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed my father's letter. "Your father wrote me this letter about a year after you finished treatment, and I've kept it ever since and show it to all my residents and fellows ...to show them why we do what we do.”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“It was in that moment that not only did I experience my lowest point through my cancer journey, but as I look back, I realize that I also experienced one of my most empowering.”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“The genuine is rare; the false is everywhere… What is true is seldom found; what is false fills the earth.”
Source: The Light in the Heart
“As it turned out, everyone knew that I had cancer. That is, everyone except me.”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“We were not mentally prepared for this option. It was overwhelming. What do we tell our boys, how will they react? You have a hundred thoughts racing through your head, and they are all maneuvering for the ability to create clarity amidst the confusion, but they cannot.”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“I always felt like it was out of place, kind of like the idea that you're sitting in jail and lean over and ask the guy next to you, "Hey, buddy...What are you in for?" The irony is, most of them ...maybe not all but most wanted to talk. They/we have a story to tell. It is our story of survival ...our story of fighting the great battle and hoping to come through victorious.
-Kyle”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“This was not going to be an easy experience, but let me say this as clearly as I know how; nothing anybody says can prepare you for what lay ahead... nothing. I considered myself a tough human being. I was a soldier. Like, not a "No Limit" soldier or "soldier for life" ...like an actual United States soldier, for crying out loud.”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“Some of this is difficult to put into words and almost a little embarrassing, but can we became my identity for 18 months of my life. I didn’t have a conversation with anyone outside of my close circle of family or friends that didn’t revolve around having cancer or treating cancer.
-Kyle”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease
“If I had to summarize it with one word it would be HOPE. Never lose hope.”
Source: Cancer Is for Older People: How Young Minds Beat an Old Disease