You can be dealt many different hands of cards in the game of life. James “Rhio” O’Connor was dealt a diagnosis of mesothelioma cancer. Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops in the protective lining that lines the internal organs. There is not a high survival rate for this type of cancer. Normal treatment is radiation and chemotherapy. When I was born I was dealt a life threating condition called Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome. This means that I will never breath while sleeping, without the help of machanical ventilation. Living with a life threatienng diagnosis or condition is hard to grasp. If I were given a life threatening cancer diagnosis I would fight to the end to save my own life. I would first find the best doctors in the United States or all over the world. I’d give them a challenge to find a cure. Looking at the me straight in the face and not just a name on a chart. Research the best schools and hospitals that are treating the type of cancer that I have. I would go to the largest medical library I could find and spend hours upon hours trying to save my life. With my syndrome if I got cancer anyone of options to get rid of it would probably kill me. All the chemicals and radiation would take such a bad effect on my body probably causing my breathing to get worse. I would go to all the medical professionals I know and ask them for their opinion. One of the first things I would is tell my parents. They are the ones who can help you out with everything. From money or the support you need to standing by you when you’re in the library in the middle of the night looking for a new cure. Being in hospitals throughout my life has helped shape me into the person that I am today and is a major reason why I want to go into the medical field. This would also be something that would help me; I would already have a back ground in the medical field. I would love to be a Physicians Assistant and work in a hospital with pediatric patients. I think that the children are the most important because they are young and don’t really know what is happening. The best way for them to understand it is to sit down, explain it to them and show them the love that they want. Love is not just from family or friends but also from anyone who cares about what they are doing and the people that they are with. It does not matter what your difference is in life we are all humans that need love. If I got cancer at a younger age this training would be so valuable. We look at doctors like they are god and know everything right off the back of their hand. Truthfully though they are just people that have pushed themselves forward. They read these books that people write, as humans assume that these books that they read are the truth and they never make mistakes. In real like all the medical books have been edited, had information added to them and can change year to year. That’s why the doctors we trust go threw more school than you can ever think of. This is what Rhino did, kept his knowledge about medical information updated after he found out his diagnosis. We can be our own investigators, like the newscasters that investigate health problems. Cancer is an evil thing, comes and goes as it pleases. Never gives you a break or cares how you feel that day. Truthfully I’d be scared if I got cancer. I wouldn’t know what to do, I would love to say that id is strong and take the bull by the horns but you don’t know until you experience something like that is so painful, life altering, and eye opening. I have to say that Rhio was brave, determined, and amazing for doing what he did to prolong his life. Hopefully I will have that strength if something more life altering ever happens to me.
By: Pope, Laura
