2008 Woodie Awards
My bout with cancer
Bill Atwell
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: Features
Billy Atwell is an ECU student and a cancer survivor. As a part of cancer awareness events on campus this week, Atwell wrote this piece outlining his struggle with cancer and how he got through it all.
On July 17, 2002, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It had spread up into my abdomen onto lymph nodes behind my kidneys. After fighting through three heavy rounds of chemotherapy, three major operations, and a few minor surgeries, I was cured.
I was again diagnosed with cancer, though of a different kind, in the spring of 2007, all before my 21st birthday. This surgery required the removal of a large mass and then a reconstruction of my hip.
I do not want to spend much time on what happened to me; rather, I want to write about how I emotionally pulled through that terrible fight. There are countless stories of suffering to be read about downtrodden cancer survivors, and those who never pulled through. Mine is hardly significant being that it is so comparable to many others that you have read.
People have told me, "I don't know how you did it. I could never be as strong as you when you were sick." The first sentence of that statement is always a puzzle to me. I did it because I had no choice. There is no moral worth to the fact that I have suffered because I did not choose it. Yes, I have been made a better person in light of my experiences but I would never have chosen the path in life I have been given.
The second sentence of that statement is of greater value to those who are interested in cancer counseling and recovery. I have heard a quote that changed the way I view suffering. It reads, "It is not what happens to a man that matters, rather it is what happens within him that truly counts."
Overcoming cancer with a sound body is left up to the doctors, physicians and other experts. You have little to no accountability as to how your physical self pulls through an illness like cancer. Mentally, though, we have much more control over what happens. Having suffered through cancer twice I have taken two approaches: optimism and pessimism.
On July 17, 2002, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It had spread up into my abdomen onto lymph nodes behind my kidneys. After fighting through three heavy rounds of chemotherapy, three major operations, and a few minor surgeries, I was cured.
I was again diagnosed with cancer, though of a different kind, in the spring of 2007, all before my 21st birthday. This surgery required the removal of a large mass and then a reconstruction of my hip.
I do not want to spend much time on what happened to me; rather, I want to write about how I emotionally pulled through that terrible fight. There are countless stories of suffering to be read about downtrodden cancer survivors, and those who never pulled through. Mine is hardly significant being that it is so comparable to many others that you have read.
People have told me, "I don't know how you did it. I could never be as strong as you when you were sick." The first sentence of that statement is always a puzzle to me. I did it because I had no choice. There is no moral worth to the fact that I have suffered because I did not choose it. Yes, I have been made a better person in light of my experiences but I would never have chosen the path in life I have been given.
The second sentence of that statement is of greater value to those who are interested in cancer counseling and recovery. I have heard a quote that changed the way I view suffering. It reads, "It is not what happens to a man that matters, rather it is what happens within him that truly counts."
Overcoming cancer with a sound body is left up to the doctors, physicians and other experts. You have little to no accountability as to how your physical self pulls through an illness like cancer. Mentally, though, we have much more control over what happens. Having suffered through cancer twice I have taken two approaches: optimism and pessimism.
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Mary Hurt
posted 10/08/08 @ 8:33 PM EST
Bill,
That is a beautiful testimony- thank you for sharing it. You have let God use your disease for His glory. He's probably saying "Well done, my good and faithful servant". (Continued…)
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