I've been keeping myself busy this winter break by applying for cancer survivor scholarships. While I am very appreciative of the opportunity to apply, I often feel like these essays reinscribe some unfair and limiting stereotypes about cancer patients and their experiences. For example, for one scholarship I was asked to write a 1,000 word essay addressing one of the following prompts:
1. How has cancer impacted your life, illustrating why you should be selected as a scholarship recipient.
This is a pretty mild question, but there are some very subtle implicit assumptions. Cancer survivorship is a spectacle. We, as cancer survivors, are expected to rehash, over and over, the traumas of cancer treatment. We are expected to do so at anyone'e beck and call. We are expected to have cancer impact our lives profoundly for it to be a legitimate experience. You want money for school (which should be available for everyone)? Well, then you're just going to have to entertain us with your "terrible" story.
2. Describe how you have used your cancer experience to help others going through the same experience.
I know this sounds selfish, but are we expected to accept a very narrow niche(helping other cancer patients) just because we had cancer, too? We have enough on our plate looking after ourselves, don't you think? Is it not okay to pursue our own interests? This type of myopic focus encourages to ignore the systemic causes of cancer and become so issue-oriented that we won't realize how we are oppressed/oppress others.
3. Tell us about someone who inspired you during your treatment and how this impacted your decision to go to college/continue your education.
I can tell you that pretty much the only thing that inspired me during my treatment was a clean PET scan and a barf bag close by.
4. If you were to start your own non-profit cancer charity, what would be your mission?
Like I said, didn't we serve our time? Why does cancer status automatically denote that we should be involved in activism or charity? Is the work that I am/was already doing not important? As a survivor, why does my life's work have to revolve around cancer? I'M SICK OF CANCER.
I'm sure that there are many wonderful responses to these questions out there in the world, they're just not for me! Instead of trying to fit these assumptions, I just wrote my honest story; about how I was hardly making it by, how my partner and I left our jobs/school for treatment, how money was tight, how I was treated when I came back to grad school. I was honest. Maybe, it'll be so off-beat that it'll warrant some attention. *sigh* I sure hope so.
For all you cancer-survivors reading, you should check out I'm Too Young For This! /Lance Armstrong Foundation for tons of scholarships for school and financial obligations incurred through treatment: http://i2y.org/ (Click the bubble, "I need money" and it will link to you to all sorts of charity and scholarship goodness.) It doesn't matter where you are in your status or treatment, you are eligible. Look 'em up!
