James “Rhio” O’Connor was an extraordinary person for fighting as long and as hard as he did to bet his cancer. Many people often think about what they would do if they were faced with a cancer prognosis, but many also do not take this hypothetical situation seriously. I believe that even if the situation is hypothetical one should still make a plan because if it did ever happen to them then they would be prepared. To prepare for a prognosis such as cancer it is a good idea to research similar causes of the disease and from that make an informed decision on the courses of treatment you would want. Research is the best tool in life and is made even more useful when your life depends on it.
If I have just been diagnosed with cancer I would want to fight because I have so many people in my life that I would need to fight for. Not only would I fight for the people in my life but most importantly I would have to fight for myself. In order to fight for my life I would have to research all that there is out there on my condition so then I would be able to decide what course of action is good for my case. Not only would I research my condition but also research the best doctors that have dealt with this type of disease. This doesn’t mean that my only option is medicine but I could also look for what homeopathic remedies are out there. Either way I chose to go I will either be able to find a cure or at least alleviate the symptoms until a cure can be found.
One of the best resources I believe is the Mayo Clinic, because they are specialized in the treatment of many forms of cancer and they could also help with the homeopathic remedies if I chose not to go the medical route. Also any teaching hospital would be good because they would have many different forms of treatment at their disposal. The doctors that work at these teaching hospitals have to be good at what they do in order to teach the newer doctors what to do and that also means that they would be in tough with the latest treatments available. Someone that I know found out a year ago that she has breast cancer, now at first she figured that she was just going to let the disease run its course because her mother and another family member both had breast cancer. What made her change her mind was a newly born grandchild that she wanted to see grow up and the only way that was going to happen was if she fought to stay alive. The path she chose was medicine and it has been hard to watch her suffer through the surgeries and the treatments, but now that she has crossed that hump she is looking and feeling better. Once she got diagnosed she had to give up the job that she loved so much, but know that she is finally going to beat this thing she is also planning on returning to teaching.
To face death is one of the hardest things that a person can ever face, but once you realize that you are not alone in the fight then it makes it easier. Not very many people would believe that they would have the strength to say that they would want to fight to stay alive because it would just be much simpler to just lay done and die. I don’t believe this, to me it would be harder to admit defeat then it would be to fight. My friend realized this and is no longer afraid because she knows that she will win her fight against cancer and there will be people around to let her know that she made the right chose.
I don’t want to sound like I am forcing the fact to fight rather than die, but I don’t believe that anyone truly wants to leave this world like this. My friend didn’t and she chose to fight the fight that she needed to. Fighting to me is the strongest and bravest thing a person can ever do for themselves. James O’Connor was very brave for choosing to fight and I hope that anybody that reads this and is faced with the same decision or knows anybody in this position will chose to get their lives back rather than just giving up, because they are never alone in their fight to continue to live.
By: Humphrey, Rebecca
