Being in your twenties and trying to figure out who you are and what you want to do in life - with… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
The bone marrow transplant procedure itself can be dangerous, but it is swift, which makes it feel strangely anti-climactic. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Writing about cancer is always a challenge for me because it hits so close to home. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Where cancer is concerned, it's safe to say there's no such thing as good timing. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
When I was diagnosed with cancer at age 22, I learned just how much cancer affects families when it affects individuals. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
For cancer patients like me, and for others who suffer from chronic or life-threatening illnesses, natural disasters don't put health on the… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Cancer can catch even the best of us off guard. Sometimes the emotions come pouring out. Sometimes they stay locked inside. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
The hero's journey is, you know, one of the oldest story arcs that we have. And it's one, I think, that's especially… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
When I was first in the hospital, some of my visitors seemed so intent on not upsetting me that they avoided the… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
It is hard not to speak in cliches about cancer. It can be even harder not to feel as if I have… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
When I finally returned home after my five-week hospitalization, I could feel the stares of strangers on my bald head and thinning… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Soon enough I would learn the specific diagnosis: myelodysplastic syndrome, a disorder of the bone marrow. In my case, the disease growing… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Like a lot of other cancer patients lying in hospital beds or in chemotherapy suites, I have spent a fair amount of… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
During the first year of my cancer treatment, adopting a dog was out of the question. I spent more time in the… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Cancer didn't have to be permanent; in my case, I'm lucky that my cancer is curable, but infertility was. And it was… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Sex can be a squeamish subject even when cancer isn't part of the picture, so the combination of sex and cancer together… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
I remember my first day of chemo as if it were yesterday, hanging up my favorite summer dress like an athlete retiring… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
When you are talking to a dog about cancer, there are no judgments or taboos. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Cancer isn't something that makes you want to share, it's something that makes you want to hide. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
The steep price tag of cancer treatment needs to continue to be a part of the national conversation, not just the patient-doctor… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
It took me a long time to be able to say I was a cancer patient. Then, for a long time, I… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
And I had this sense, even though I couldn't quite wrap my head around what it meant to have a cancer diagnosis… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
I'll never go so far to call cancer a gift. It's a really terrible disease. It's taken the lives of so many… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
While an increasing number of cancer treatment centers have begun offering post-treatment care plans and support groups to help patients navigate these… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
After my diagnosis at age 22 with leukemia, the second piece of news I learned was that I would likely be infertile… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Cancer makes people think about mortality. It scares your friends and family. And many cancer patients, consciously or otherwise, try to buffer… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Just a few years ago, at the age of 22, I learned I had an aggressive form of leukemia. I needed intensive… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Even the word 'cancer' is ugly, scary, burdensome - a roadblock for a conversation before it even starts. Who wants to go… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Cancer had given me a reverse celebrity status: all the attention for something you didn't want to be known for. I had… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Today, at age 24, when my peers are dating, marrying and having children of their own, my cancer treatments are causing internal… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Looking back, I call the first month after my diagnosis 'the cancer bubble' because I wasn't showing obvious signs of my disease.… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
There's no denying that cancer is a gloomy subject. We repeat positive phrases to ourselves as a sort of mantra. And while… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Cancer has made me mentally and spiritually stronger. But as my life starts to go back to normal, I find that some… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
One of the hardest parts about developing leukemia at age 22 was how restrictive it was: My treatments left me highly susceptible… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
For the better half of my early 20s, I was Bubble Girl. When I found out I had leukemia at 22 my… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
At the age of 22, I began to consider my own mortality. It had never occurred to me that, with all of… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Getting diagnosed with cancer at 22 really magnified the in-betweenness that I felt. All of my friends were starting careers and going… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
I think often when we talk about things like cancer, the kind of final act at the end of the story comes… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
I think another aspect of being a young adult with cancer is that most of your friends, hopefully, you know, have never… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
The thought of going through a bone marrow transplant, which in my case called for a life-threatening dose of chemotherapy followed by… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
With a Catholic mother and a Muslim father, I've always had a great interest in religion, but I've never practiced one myself. After I… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
It felt like 10 years, but I was actually in treatment for three-and-a-half years. I finally finished in April. Two years ago, I had… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
There are days when I even long for the paralegal job that once upon a time made me so miserable. It wasn't the perfect… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
When I finally returned home after my five-week hospitalization, I could feel the stares of strangers on my bald head and thinning eyebrows. Everywhere… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
The bone marrow transplant procedure itself can be dangerous, but it is swift, which makes it feel strangely anti-climactic. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
Even amid the shock of my diagnosis, I held onto the hope that I'd be able to make the most of my down time… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
I'll never go so far to call cancer a gift. It's a really terrible disease. It's taken the lives of so many of my… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
I think often when we talk about things like cancer, the kind of final act at the end of the story comes with a… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
Before my diagnosis with leukemia, two years ago at the age of 22, I'd always excelled at making resolutions. But I was never as… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
Like a lot of other young people, I never thought about health insurance until I got sick. I was 22, and my adult life… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
And there came a point in my treatment where I couldn't see that end in sight. And that was the most challenging, I think,… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
But no conversation between doctor and patient can magically turn an uninsured patient into an insured one. Doctors are just as helpless as patients… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
Cancer magnifies the in-betweenness of young adulthood: You're not a child anymore, yet you're not fully ready to live in the adult world, either.… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
I get along well with my medical team and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. But the idea of discussing my… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
For the better half of my early 20s, I was Bubble Girl. When I found out I had leukemia at 22 my world suddenly… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share
