“What cancer taught me”

Author:  Jake Bailey 

Text type: Extended written text

A Christchurch boys high school student Jake Bailey was living the life of a teenager having fun partying playing sport and he was also the head boy of his high school, then unexpectedly he got really sick. This was the start of his fight with cancer. Jake was diagnosed with Burkitts non-Hodgkinson lymphoma this is a rare and aggressive cancer. Jake was told if not treated right away he would die within three weeks. This was the beginning of his gruelling chemotherapy.

I would recommend this text because it proves that anything is possible just if you keep pushing and fighting through anything that life throws at you. this book teaches you a valuable lesson that you should think about carefully. This book is short honest and simple. Jake is an inspiration to many, after being in Chemotherapy for a week he delivered a speech at his school and it was viewed by many. I would recommend this book because it is truely inspiring and it teaches you to live life to the fullest everyday and even could inspire you to be a little braver everyday.

This taught me that that anything can happen to anyone in the world that we live in. Jake said “none of us get out of life alive, so be gallant, be great, be gracious, and be grateful for the opportunities you have.” Life can end at any time so we have to embrace everything that happens to us we can not let the bad things get to us because life is too short to worry about things we can’t control or dwell on something bad that is happened we just have to live life to the fullest every day because yes life can end at any moment. 

I understand that Jake Bailey’s fight is a lot bigger than anything that I have experienced but I can relate to Jake by personal experience. When I was younger i trialled for a football team that was really important to me. I was devastated when I fund out I did not make the squad of 15. I was determined not to let this get to me and I didn’t I worked really hard over the course of the year and it came to trials a year later, I was not not afraid of failing I just really wanted to succeed and make the squad and that is what I did I exceeded in the trial and I made the squad. I kept positive the whole time and did not let it get to me that I did not make it the year before and I wasn’t scared of not making it and when I found out that I had made it I was full of excitement and proud that when I worked hard for it I got in. All my determination and courage payed off in the end and it was worth the fight just like Jake when he finished his chemo it was worth the fight and he had won just like I had.

I can relate this to my family because I had an experience where my grandad was all of a sudden very sick we were very confused why and went to the doctors with him. Eventually the doctors had told us he had a stroke and this was scary to hear. Later on in the week he still didn’t feel better and we took him back to the doctors. This time it was different the doctors came back with results and broke the news to us that he had bowel cancer. This was very upsetting but they said they could treat it because they found it early. Seven years later he had another stroke and also his cancer arrived again at the same time this was devastating. Doctors were not sure how serious this was and after a few weeks of operations and tests they told us that they were not sure if he would survive through this. This story would not end as well as Jakes, He had months of fighting but because he was fighting two different things at once he could not cope and he sadly passed away. He fought all he could and still tried to live every day to the fullest and this is how it relates to Jakes story. From this I have learned that anything can happen in a short mount of time and we should enjoy life and enjoy the people we have in it’s company.

I believe that this is an amazing story that Jake Bailey has shared and it has inspired many people around the globe. It has been viewed by many and has taught a lot of people valuable lessons. I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to everyone.