My 300 Cancer Non-Negotiables
johndabell There are certain things I will not compromise on when it comes to cancer. These are the non-negotiables. The things that I won’t dilute. Or take short-cuts with. Why? If…
2025
When Cancer Feels Like a Criminal Record
In many ways, cancer can feel like having a criminal record and it’s something that’s always on your CV. It’s a sense of being marked, changed and branded. It follows…
The Day Doesn’t Care…..
The day doesn’t care how tired you are, it still demands to be lived. One thing I learned pretty early when I was diagnosed with cancer is that feeling sorry…
Your Mindset Is the Matchstick – Strike It and Light It
There’s a spark in you. Maybe it’s dimmed. Maybe it’s buried. But it’s there – waiting. Your mindset is the matchstick. It holds the potential to ignite change, courage, and…
The Quiet Gravity of Hope
Hope is not loud. It doesn’t kick the door in or wave a banner. It doesn’t shout over your fear or drown out your doubts. But it’s always there –…
The Apprentice Optimist: Training in Courage and Perseverance
You don’t become an optimist overnight. You don’t just wake up one morning, brimming with hope and courage, able to stare down adversity with a calm smile. No – optimism…
Route 66: A Metaphor for the Cancer Journey
Sixty-six. What’s special about that number? Well, it’s the number of immunotherapy ‘spa’ treatments I can add to my CV as of tomorrow afternoon. Sixty-six. That’s a lot of treatments…
The Reality of Survival: Hurt, Hard Work, and Holding On
It’s time to reflect on just how far you have come. You’ve survived! Survival is rarely noble. It’s not clean or cinematic. It’s not always a story of victory paraded…
You Are the Only One in Charge of You
There’s a simple but powerful truth I’ve learned: you are the only one in charge of you. Nobody else gets to live your life for you. Nobody else can feel…
When Cancer Builds Invisible Walls: Living and Connecting Through Head and Neck Cancer
The lived experience of head and neck cancer can be profoundly lonely by very nature of the functions it robs you of. It is disabling. It robs you of your…