Stage three throat cancer caused Ken Chapman to divide his life into before and after the disease. He survived radiation, chemotherapy and a radical surgical laryngectomy that took away his speaking voice. He knew survival demanded endurance through treatments. Recovery required even more persistence, prudence and patience,
Drawn Onward is about more than the journey through diagnosis, treatment, recovery and achieving survival. It is about learning wisdom along the way. It is about taking responsibility for what you can control. It is about refusing to dwell on or trying to change what is not within your control. It is about learning how to apply the Stoic virtues of Judgment, Courage, Temperance and Wisdom in practical ways that lead to personal growth in the face of adversity.
It's a story of building resilience with the help of family, friends, caregivers and healthcare professionals. It is a story of going beyond surviving cancer to redefine identity and find new meaning and purpose in life. It is about doing all of that with the altered body and the limitations cancer imposed. It's a story of becoming a "revivor," where creativity, adaptability, personal growth and joy.
Drawn Onward is not a book you read for enjoyment, but there is humour. It's a book you read to share the experience of a journey where an expected future is suddenly taken away and disappears, never to return. It's about finding the strength to struggle and succeed through trauma and hardship. It is about coming through it all revived and regenerated, thriving in a robust, fulfilling life that is very different from before cancer.
