I was successfully treated for cancer, diagnosed originally in 1976 when I was 28 years old. I am now 63. The New York Times op-ed article reproduced below was written while I was in the midst of my first round of radiation treatment.
While I often pride myself for remembering events, nothing could induce me to reconstruct the emotional details of that now long ago experience which I wrote down in my reporter’s notebook in the streets of Washington, D.C. while sick from the treatment that would save my life and which a generation earlier would have certainly resulted in my unpleasant death within 18 months of diagnosis.
After my treatment in 1976, I had a surprising recurrence of Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system. In 1989 I was again received radiation treatment. Since then I have been of free of cancer.
Yesterday, my two daughters returned to their homes after visiting me here in State College, PA. Joanna, who will be 27 this month, is returning to her job as an ambulance driver and EMT before beginning nursing school. (She also happens to be a specialist in Beat literature.) I was able to father her after my first round of radiation treatment.
My daughter Amelia is returning to her senior year in college after spending her junior year abroad in Pamplona, Spain where she ran with the bulls. I was able to father her after my second round of radiation treatment.
In the past, I have written about and discussed my experiences as a cancer survivor, but I have not done so recently. As my daughters left the parking lot at Addison Court to resume their own adventures, I could not help reflecting that Joanna, Amelia, and I are alive today because of the miracles of science and technology. I have at times been notorious for my criticism of health care in the United States, but there are times in life when gratitude is obligatory and this is one of them.
--Joel Solkoff, State College, PA
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