I’m finishing up a clinical term for school, and finally have some time off to sleep and reflect, before starting my final year in September. Now, people thought I was crazy for wanting to go back to school for quite a few years and get my degree in Cancer Radiation Therapy, but I have never regretted my decision. Through my personal life, my volunteering, and now my work, I have had countless experiences with cancer, each helping to shape the person I am today.
When I started my clinical experience at the Cancer Center in Kelowna, I admit that I was very green. I knew I wanted to make a difference, but I was just starting out. Since then, I’ve had experience working all over the Province. I have treated children, new parents, great grandparents, and everyone in between. I have worked with some amazing people who have inspired me to be a therapist like them, and to be honest I have worked with some people who have inspired me to be anything BUT a therapist like them. Every experience, good and bad, I feel I have learned from, and I know I won’t forget it.
People ask me why, after everything my family has been through, would I want to work with cancer patients every day. But in my mind, I feel that after everything, how could I not want to?
For those of you who are not quite sure what I do, I’ll give you a quick rundown. Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that can be done on its own, with chemotherapy, surgery, or hormone therapy. A patient will come anywhere from 1 to upwards of 40 times. They come once a day usually for a month, so I get to know patients and their families. I get to be a friendly face on their journey, and help them along. I don’t treat people like they are sick, I treat them like they are human.
I’m not saying that everything is sunshine and rainbows. Death is something real, and it isn’t easy. I’ve had patients die. I’ve had patients coming to terms with a 6 month prognosis. I’ve had a 25 year old with a new born baby who wasn’t going to live to see his child grow up. Nothing about what I do is easy, just like nothing about cancer is fair.
My goal is to always be a person who cares, a person who smiles, and a person who helps others. My past has helped shape me into the person I am, but it doesn’t define me. In everything I do, I don’t listen to the angry, bitter, hateful people, I listen to the positive, hopeful, inspiring people. I take pride in what I do and how I live, and encourage others to ignore the outside voices and just stay true to what you believe in. Be accountable to yourself and to those who you care about, because those are the only opinions that matter.
Call me Moni-Q. 