How student went from stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma to wanting to study oncology after Year 12

The mental burden of enduring cancer was as challenging as the physical stress. I hated the fact that I wasn’t in control of my life; I hated that I couldn’t go to school and see my friends, writes Sebastian Khoury.

In 2022, I was diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin Lymphoma. I spent six months of my life bound to the shackles of a hospital bed in the Royal Children’s Hospital. Loneliness, relentless, suffering, I was going through the most challenging experience of my life.

I couldn’t see anyone without ending up in the hospital on strong antibiotics to treat a respiratory infection in the following days.

I couldn’t move without dizzy spells, headaches, and a heart rate above 130 beats per minute. I couldn’t wake up in the morning without feeling the agony of the bones in my legs being killed by my chemo.

Sebastian Khoury is a Year 12 student at St Bernard's College in Victoria preparing to sit the English exam - he also survived cancer and has written a book. Picture: Jason Edwards

I have always been someone who has prided themselves on being an academic, so my journey through cancer would prove to challenge me in new ways.

Learning was not a mere struggle but a monumental burden that no one in my position knew how to handle.

For the first time in my life, I had to choose between my health and school. I didn’t know whether I was supposed to be studying hard or letting the chemo dictate my choices.

The mental burden of enduring cancer was as challenging as the physical stress. I hated the fact that I wasn’t in control of my life; I hated that I couldn’t go to school and see my friends; I hated that I couldn’t find the motivation to pick up a book.

Nonetheless, I persevered. On occasion, when I did go into school, everyone would look at me with those sympathetic eyes that suggested all I was to them was a sick boy.

Inwardly, I didn’t see myself in such a sad light. Instead, I had entered a state of survival where I was only concerned about doing what was necessary to get better. Rarely entertaining thoughts of death, I sometimes almost forgot that I had cancer, all that mattered was getting better.

Then that day finally came, the day I rang the bell. For those of you who don’t know, at the end of a patient’s treatment they get to ring a bell, signalling the end of a transformative journey.

It is a chance to celebrate success and life. I walked down that hallway in the cancer ward of the Royal Children’s Hospital one last time, while dozens of medical staff from around the hospital lined the hallway.

In 2022, Sebastian Khoury was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma. Picture: Instagram

He spent six months of his life bound to the shackles of a hospital bed in the Royal Children’s Hospital. Picture: Instagram

Everyone was cheering for me and to be honest I think they were more excited about the whole experience than I was.

I lugged the IV machine down the hallway step by step, relishing the chance to see just how important my life was to these people.

Finally, I made it to the end and rang the bell. Ever since I rang it, I have been wondering when my journey with cancer will be over. I thought that day was the end and that everything would go back to normal after it, but something about that felt wrong.

Was it the end when I had my next appointment with my oncologist, when my immune system recovered from chemo, when I had my post-chemo vaccinations when that year finally ended?

I didn’t quite know when this journey came to an end, but maybe that was in part because I didn’t want it to end. I soon reintegrated myself into a school environment, but having spent so much time away, I felt as though I was a stranger in my own home. I couldn’t help but realise that ringing the bell, in some way, marked not the end of cancer but the beginning of my journey as a survivor.

Coming out of treatment, many have said to me, “Surely you have spent so much time in that place that you would never want to go back?”

However, nowadays cancer is at the forefront of my thinking. Everyone wants to know what I want to do after high school. Well, my experiences have me wanting to become an oncologist. I want to help sick people just like my oncologists helped me when I was sick. Studying medicine and the treatment of human suffering would be an honour and so, I hope to pursue a future of lifelong learning as a doctor.

From stage 4 cancer to wanting to study to be an oncologist to help other people. Picture: Instagram

If I had never struggled with cancer, I would have never been pushed to such ambitions, and so in a way, I am grateful for the pain I endured in 2022.

Perhaps, as students we are shaped by our experiences more than we care to realise. We all have struggles in life.

Whether it’s a busy work schedule, the uncertainty of the path ahead, or a life changing diagnosis, life gets tough.

Within every struggle is an opportunity for success. I will not let my struggles limit me, rather I will allow it to define my future studies and success.

Sebastian Khoury is a Year 12 St Bernard’s College student in Melbourne who has written a book called The Worst Best Year.

Originally published as How student went from stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma to wanting to study oncology after Year 12