Jane Finley
Survivor Renewal
Winner
Jane Finley is a 3rd time winner. She is currently attending Miami University where she is a double major in political science and philosophy. She is very involved in her school and her community. She is a student mentor for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student of the Year. She also excels as the show choir vice president. All the time maintaining Honor Roll for 4 years.
“After my diagnosis, I became dead set on being a doctor or working in the medical field. When everything first began to shut down everyone, including myself, believed it would only be those two weeks. Everyone believed it was an early start to spring break and there was not a single person that believed it wouldn’t change our entire future. For me, the first few weeks of quarantine were the worst few weeks of my life. Sickness was beginning to become the forefront of my life again after I had just gone through 4 years of sickness. Depression and anxiety set in more than it ever had. However, quarantine allowed me to address the issues I needed to face. I applied to all of these colleges with my major either being biology or neuroscience. I had planned to spend nearly a decade more in school to become a doctor; a doctor like the ones who had saved me. Those few weeks made me realize that’s exactly what I couldn’t be. As much as I wanted to help children who were going to experience something similar to what I had and be able to share my story, I realized that I couldn’t let sickness be my life because it had already been the biggest part of me. I could still help the children after me who get diagnosed with similar cancers and be able to share my story but studying it for decades and trying to answer all of my questions I still had about myself wasn’t necessary. I had to let a part of me go in that moment and decide a different path; a path that would still allow me to help people. My first year in college I decided to change my major to Political Science and Philosophy with the hopes of going to law school. While I still can’t decide if that’s what I want to do, covid and my diagnosis continue to remind me to take each day one step at a time. We’re going to expereince several different moments in our life that cause us to stop and think about what we’re doing but I believe it’ll be fully worth it in the end. “
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