Living With Cancer. A Collection of Essays from the Gilda's Club New York City Teen Essay Contest

138 Pages·2014·2.11 MB·English

by  Tonya Hurley

L IV ING WITH CANCER :
A Teen Perspective
A Collection of Essays From the Gilda's Club New York City
Essay Contest

ED ITED BY TONYA HURLEY

WITH A FOREWORD BY EMMA STONE
© 2014 Tonya Hurley, Editor
All rights reserved.

CAUTION: “Living with Cancer-A Teen Perspective: A Collection of Essays
from the Gilda’s Club New York City Essay Contest” is fully protected under the
copyright laws of the United States of America and of all countries covered by
the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the
rest of the British Commonwealth), the Berne Convention, the Pan-American
Copyright Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention as well as all
countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations. All
rights, including excerpting, professional/amateur stage rights, motion picture,
recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or
sound recording, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such
as CD-ROM, CD-I, information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying,
and the rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to:
William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC
Attn: 212 Books 1325 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York
10019
Contents
Title Page

Copyright

A note from Gilda's Club CEO, Lily Safani

A note from the Editor, Tonya Hurley

A Special Note from Gilda's Club NYC Ambassador, EMMA STONE

1 About Me

1 Strength in Normalcy

By: Jodi Ahn-Ting Chan
2 A Relay for My Life

By: Molly Prep
3 A Different Route

By: Jamison Buchanan
4 Dreams Deferred
By: Dana N. Laurie
5 A Suburban Life

By: Andrea Baatz
6 The Broccoli Rabe Blog Story

By: Donna Coane
7 Cancer...Cancer

By: Samantha Ashburn
8 Life is a Journey, Not a Destination

By: Saul Tbeile
9 Me and My Leukemia

By: Mallory Evans
10 Cancer Kickoff

By: Kalyn Faller
2 My Parents

11 A Soft Blow

By: Kayla Halvey
12 Aloha Mahuakine: A Story in Pictures
By: Emma Burger
13 An Inspiration to Us All

By: Jared May
14 It Was Something

By: Joy Chiang Ling
15 My Greatest Accomplishment

By: Chelsea De Jesus
16 Untitled

By: Kenneth Hicks
17 Our New Lives with Cancer

By: Saloni Vishwakarma
18 On The Sidelines

By: Nina Leeds
3 Brothers, Sisters, and BFFs

19 The Sibling Story

By: Sophia Capellini
20 The Strongest Mother

By: Erica Galluscio
21 One Dreadful Thing

By: Alicia Romeo
22 The Contradictions of Cancer

By: Emily Marcus
23 The Unbreakable Bond

By: Bryce Cammarata
24 The Ripple Effect

By: Marcus Thomas
25 Indelible

By: Annie Fan
4 My Family

26 Nana

By: Emily Friedman
27 A Yellow Bracelet

By: Caitlin Rubin
28 Uncle Santa

By: Rachel Rigodon
29 Always In My Heart
By: Ryan Markoe
30 Thank You

By: Hannah Chi
31 The Emotional Rollercoaster

By: Jack Bellear
32 Diagnosis

By: Cassidy Latham
A NOTE FROM G ILDA ' S CLUB CEO ,
L ILY SAFANI
A cancer diagnosis can be an extremely isolating experience that triggers many
emotions including fear, anger, depression and an overwhelming sense of
helplessness. Gilda’s Club New York City (GCNYC) is a non-profit dedicated to
helping New Yorkers who have been impacted by a cancer diagnosis – men,
women, teens and children – learn how to live with cancer. Our innovative
program is an essential complement to medical care, providing networking and
support groups, workshops, educational lectures and social activities, all free of
charge. More important, we provide welcoming communities where people
living with cancer, young and old, can share their experiences with others who
understand what it means to be living with cancer. At Gilda’s Club, we believe
no one should face cancer alone.
The “It’s Always Something” Teen Essay Contest was started four years ago
to provide a forum for teens in grades 9-12 to share their own personal cancer
experience with other teens. A cancer diagnosis in the family is particularly hard
on teens, who may have difficulty expressing their feelings, and whose parents
may not know how to talk to them. The essay contest provides them with an
outlet to initiate a crucial dialogue about the impact of a cancer diagnosis in the
family.
Through the generous support of the Heidi Paoli Fund, Gilda’s Club NYC has
now been able to publish selected essays from the “It’s Always Something” Teen
Essay Contest—a first for Gilda’s Club NYC. This special publication of
selected works from the 2010-2013 Teen Essay Contests provides teens with a
forum to express themselves that many did not think was possible and helps to
educate the public about the issues teens who are living with cancer face. We
hope by publishing these essays other teens will understand that they do not have
to face cancer alone.
Our annual “It’s Always Something” Teen Essay Contest will continue to
contribute to the mission of GCNYC and help identify teens who may benefit
from our free cancer support program, Teens Connect, as well as educate a wider
community about the benefit of social and emotional support for everyone living
with cancer.
We could never accomplish what we do without the support of our special
community of volunteers, donors and our Gilda’s Club New York City staff. It is
an endless list of people who truly believe in what we do and for whom we are
forever grateful. Special thanks to our contributing teens, our judges, Dennis
Paoli and the Heidi Paoli Foundation, Nancy Cambino, Michele Halusic, Tonya
Hurley, Tracy Hurley Martin, William Morris Endeavor/212 Books, Kevin
Dixon, Emma Stone and Migdalia Torres – all of whom have made the Teen
Essay Contest what it is today.

Lily Safani
CEO
Gilda’s Club New
York City