It is hard, on this 12-year anniversary of sorts, to find words that properly capture how fortunate and grateful I feel.
Twelve years ago, when I was diagnosed with ALK-positive lung cancer, I was told I had around a 5% chance of surviving five years. That is a confronting statistic to hear. But even then, I knew that statistics describe populations, not individuals. They do not measure hope. They do not measure resilience. And they certainly do not measure the power of research, science, love, purpose and the people who stand beside you.
I have survived these 12 years because of the extraordinary work of researchers, scientists, clinicians and patients who have dedicated their lives to changing the future for people with lung cancer. I am deeply grateful to them. Their work has not been abstract to me. It has given me time. Time with my family. Time with my friends. Time to keep learning, contributing, travelling, planning and living.
Soon after my diagnosis, a dear friend, who is also a clinical psychologist, gave me advice that has stayed with me every day since. She told me to think about ARG, and to practise it daily.
A is for anticipation: what are you looking forward to, tomorrow, next year, or even 10 years from now? R is for reflection: what has truly brought you happiness, meaning and joy in your life? And G is for gratitude: what are you truly grateful for?
Since then, I have spent some time most days thinking about these things. Before my diagnosis, I am not sure I paused often enough to do that. Cancer changed many things, but one of the things it gave me was a sharper sense of what matters.
I was not initially inclined to “celebrate” this 12th anniversary. It felt too complicated, too personal, perhaps even too fragile. But I was reminded that for someone newly diagnosed with ALK-positive lung cancer, and for their family, knowing that someone has lived 12 years after diagnosis may inspire them and offer something incredibly important: hope.
And if marking this anniversary gives even one person hope, then I owe it to them, and to my family, my friends, my clinical team, the researchers and the wider lung cancer community to call it out and to celebrate it.
I have so much still to live for. I have more to give, more to learn, more people to support, and many more memories I want to make with those I love. I continue to make plans well into the future, because lung cancer does not define me.
But it has given me purpose.
It has reminded me how precious time is, how powerful hope can be, and how important it is to help others, not only people living with lung cancer today, but also those who will be diagnosed in the future.
So, I mark 12 years with gratitude, humility and hope. Grateful for the science that has carried me this far. Grateful for the people who have walked beside me. And I look forward to a future where many more people with lung cancer are given the time, treatment, support and possibility that every person deserves.
