The Lion's Pride Lion's Pride Volume 12 (Spring 2019) | Page 11

After the biopsy, the diagnosis was that I had breast cancer. This
really put me in a stunned state. Well, I was back to “It’s hard being
human” mode, but I pushed on. After all, I pulled myself through head
trauma. Just being honest, this was a low point; it was more like “It
sucks to be human!” The month of April was spent in scans and tests,
and treatment started May 1. I had some of the worst reactions to the
chemo because of my liver not processing normally. I had to keep telling
myself, “I won’t be like this forever,” which got me through some of the
worst times. On the good weeks, I started doing more thinking about my
career. What was a head trauma and cancer survivor going to do with the
rest of her life?
During cancer treatment, I started doing research and a lot of soul
searching. To this day, I’m not sure when I made the decision to go into
Human Resource Management. All I can say is it must have been in
August of 2018 when I applied for financial aid. The more I looked at
the jobs, the more excited I got over Human Resource Management. The
position seems to be in demand and a good fit for my personality. The
next step was to find a training program. Since Lake Washington
Institute of Technology was near my home, it was the most logical. It
was thrilling to find out they have two SHRM-approved training
programs. My current strategy is to go full time for two quarters, then
have my final surgery during the summer. After recovery, I’ll need to
continue my education in the evenings. Going to college will