Rian Harvey may only be 22-years-old but he is wise beyond his years.
Positive, upbeat, inspirational…a young man on a mission to talk to as many people as possible about cancer and tackle a few myths in the process.
That’s why he made a perfect guest for You Cancervive, our new podcast, promoting the key messages of Cancer SMART, which include making cancer an everyday conversation.
Rian was diagnosed at 14 with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia , a rare type of cancer with around 3,100 people diagnosed in the UK each year, and which is most common in people over 75.
He was a typical teenager, rarely ill and had hardly ever visited his doctor. Initial symptoms of sweatiness, feeling light headed and a sore leg, were put down to regular everyday occurrences. When his leg became painful, swollen and hot, the family visited A and E, fearful it may be a blood clot.
It turned out he had blood poisoning and cancer was detected.
He underwent six months of chemotherapy and life seemed to get back to normal.
But around the time Rian and his family were celebrating his one year remission, Rian knew all wasn’t well, but was in denial.
He started experiencing nosebleeds, a loss of appetite, and he was very pale. Even his schoolfriends started asking if he was well.
“I felt like such a fraud. I was terrified I was relapsing, but I did the typical teenage thing of ignoring it and hoping the problem would go away. “
It was only when his lymph nodes became swollen, Rian had to admit there was a problem and he was admitted back into hospital where blood tests revealed the prognosis was poor.
“I needed a stem cell transplant, and we had 60 days to find a match,” said Rian. When family members were eliminated from the search, it was the Anthony Nolan register who secured a donor and by July 2015, Rian had received a transplant which saved his life.
Now Rian uses his social media platforms under his identity as the L Card, to promote awareness and raise funds for the Anthony Nolan charity. He wants to volunteer for cancer charities and make his money by giving motivational talks to businesses.
Rian got his wake up call following an incident in hospital when he was moaning about the amount of tablets he had to take.
“I was generally feeling miserable and asking ‘Why me’? A nurse told me she had hundreds of patients and to stop feeling sorry for myself. It was what I needed. I realised I could carry on being miserable and make everyone else miserable too, or I could flip it.”
By ‘flipping it’ Rian meant he would choose a new perspective and choose to see the positive side of his cancer.
He started appreciating quality time spent with his Mum watching old movies, and enjoyed family life with his four younger step sisters. He relished getting fit and set himself challenges to raise money for Anthony Nolan.
“I realised that nothing is guaranteed and that life is not for cruising. You have to get on with it.”
When Rian started a new job and moved away from home, he kept his cancer a secret.
“I wanted a new job and a new start. I put cancer in a box and shoved it as far away as possible. It felt like a guilty secret,” he explained.
It was only when he returned home during the pandemic, he began to understand that by denying his cancer journey, he wasn’t dealing with it. By being open and talking, he began to come to terms with what had happened and decided to turn what had been negative into a positive.
He started his social media accounts to blog about cancer and to show that cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence.
In an Open Letter, Dear Cancer, he explains what cancer means to him:
You came into my life when I was just 14. Plagued my blood stream with your confused immature cells simply seeking to do the job they thought they weren’t supposed to do, unaware that they were slowly killing me with the mistakes they made.
Since then, you’ve become like an old friend to me. The memories I have with you are fortified in my head forever, good and bad.
As an illness you’ve taught me so much. But first I need to give you a bit of a lesson…
I’ve watched as you’ve consumed the lives of families I’ve never met, absorbed and lashed out at children barely old enough to have celebrated a Christmas before. I’ve watched you tear innocent, lovely, kind families apart in your quest to seek the ultimate fate we can pay as humans to you.
Yet, you fail. Though you win some battles, you fail. Because as a species we’ve not fallen and given into you. We continue to thrive against you, we create new ways to battle you. We find new treatments to make you more bearable.
Despite the horrific events you bring over this entire planet, you’ve taught me so much.
Cancer, without you I wouldn’t be me. And so for me to be me I needed you. You taught me the value of why it’s important to not give in to you. You taught me what’s important in life. You showed me the hardest and darkest parts of my own soul whilst empowering me with every minute I spent there to never return to those pits again. You have helped me grow, succeed and motivate myself to do better. You’ve given me a story to share and a way to do it. You’ve allowed me to be a better version of myself through the fear of your ultimate goal ever taking first place on my life’s agenda.
For me cancer, you’re an old friend, one I tried to ignore but realised I couldn’t. You’re my teacher, my motivator and my dark counter part.
Without you I wouldn’t be here today, I would have a different life for sure. But what’s the point in dwelling on events you have no control over.
I hate you, I thank you and I respect you.
Best regards,
Your tougher counter part.
#cancerawareness #cancer #leukaemia #lettertocancer #openletter #cancersurvivor #bloodcancer
To follow Rian see his Instagram account: the lcard_rh or read his blog on Facebook The L Card