Fall 2026 Winner of the Conquering Cancer Scholarship

Kathryn Elizabeth Olsen

Kathryn, a soon-to-be senior at the University of Florida, has been named the newest winner of our Conquering Cancer Scholarship. In Kathryns essay, she discusses her mothers difficult journey with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and how societys perspective on cancer today can be harmful for those who continue to face the real complications and uncertainty of the disease.

Read Their Essay Here:

Cancer. When many people hear this word, they think of one of two things. First, cancer survivors. They feel the joy of seeing their loved ones out of pain, doing the things they love again, or even remembering the sound when they were able to celebrate and ring the bell. For others, the lasting sound in their mind is the endless beeping of hospital monitors, remembering the worst times of their loved ones' lives, or even remembering the person they were before cancer took them.

Cancer is one of the worst things that anyone could ever face, and now I am one of those people. In October 2024, my mom was diagnosed with cancer for the first time. She had surgery, and two fist-sized cancer masses were removed from her intestines. Things were ok, until they weren't, because her cancer came back. Undetected on all scans and tests, in October 2025, she was diagnosed as having stage 4 cancer, estimated to have days to live. She had another life-saving emergency surgery where a football-sized amount of cancer was removed. She had surgical complications and was rushed into emergency surgery again, five days later. After that, we were hopeful for a while. Then, insurance denied immunotherapy, and her treatments were postponed again and again. She only just had her first dose in early March, five months later. During that time, she started having more pain and needed another surgery to place a stent to drain her kidney. Her journey isnt over yet, but it has been rough so far.

Growing up, I heard cancer survivors being compared to warriors, angels, and heroes. There are countless stories of people who fought so hard or those who have won the battle against cancer. The people who get to ring the bell are success stories, the ones who are almost idolized by both their community and the medical community. I have seen hundreds of inspirational stories of cancer survivors getting gifts, visits from famous people, and leaving the hospital happy. Society frames them as strong pillars of hope. While I would never discredit the lived experiences of others, who I'm sure are grateful to be alive, I dont agree with the way these stories are presented.

I disagree with the narrative that cancer survivors are warriors because no one with cancer wanted cancer. It is not some honorable act that they volunteered to fight for the benefit of others, but a fight they fought because it was life or death. I dont believe that cancer survivors are heroes, but that they are ordinary, everyday people who never asked to be on deaths doorstep.

Surviving cancer is not a one-size-fits-all. The idea that once someone beats cancer, they are happy, and life can continue as normal, is a total fallacy. For many, like my mom, beating/surviving cancer is not a linear journey. It is very hard, both on those with cancer and their families. Though we have an incredibly supportive community praying for recovery and wishing my mom well, there is no silencing the excruciating pain that she is in every day. Sometimes it is hard for her to imagine the rest of her life, as she is blinded by pain and fear.

Showing purely positive cancer survivor stories is damaging to both cancer fighters and their families. Even though I knew that thousands of people have passed away because of cancer, hearing so many success stories, when they are a minority of cases, can breed false hope. Every time my mom has had surgery, she wonders why the pain takes so long to go away. Every time she has another bad pain day, she wonders why nothing helps. Realistically, we know that healing takes time, but seeing only the results of years-long treatments makes us wonder just how long it will take.

Cancer is something that I hope no one ever has to go through. Those who beat it fully deserve the chance to talk about their experiences and be thankful for their treatment. As a society, I think we need to shift away from survivor-only stories because they misrepresent the reality of fighting cancer. The truth is that it is a long and difficult process for everyone involved in the health of the cancer fighter. Changing the narrative from cancer survivors are warriors to something like people affected by cancer would normalize and de-idolize the lived experiences of all who experience cancer.