Seth Nuckolls

By losing a year to cancer, I was able to appreciate life more

Seth Nuckolls fought Ewings Sarcoma, a form of cancer, and received blood transfusions as part of his medical therapy.

Seth went through six grueling rounds of chemotherapy. He then had surgery to replace his right pelvis with a titanium implant. After the surgery, Seth was in a full body brace for three months.

Seth Nuckolls had an idyllic childhood. "My years as a child were blessed beyond belief," he says. "Even though I didn't live in a rich family, I believe that I was far wealthier than the richest king…My family was rich with love and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. To grow up in such an atmosphere has allowed me to choose the right paths that lead to the best life can bring."

Like many junior high school students, Seth was happy and carefree, busy with his routine of school, church youth group activities and hanging out with his buddies.

 

Something more than 'growing pains'

The fall of his freshman year in high school, Seth developed a severe pain in his hip. He had noticed the pain three times before, but had dismissed it as a normal part of being a growing boy. When the pain flared for the fourth time, his doctors became suspicious that it was something more than growing pains.

A series of tests revealed an inflammation in his right hip and two small lumps in his lungs. After a biopsy at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Seth learned that the tumors were cancerous. "When I awoke to the real world I was faced with some of the saddest people in the whole world, my family," he says. "By the grace of God, I still could not grasp the severity of my situation."

 

Cancer ordeal brings maturity, new insights

Seth went through six grueling rounds of chemotherapy. He then had surgery to replace his right pelvis with a titanium implant. After the surgery, Seth was in a full body brace for three months. During this time, he then underwent two more maintenance rounds of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation therapy.

But Seth's ordeal wasn't over yet. Halfway through the radiation therapy, he fell down some stairs with his crutches and broke his leg, which laid him up for another six weeks. He was finally able to go home just in time to start his sophomore year in September. "I felt renewed and overjoyed as I transitioned from the despair of hospital life to the warmth and light of life at home with family and friends," Seth says.
"During my time in Seattle, I was forced to mature a lot quicker than most kids my age," he says. "I came to understand that by losing a year to cancer I was able to appreciate life more."

Today, Seth is a healthy college student who has learned much from his ordeal with cancer. "I am left with one last conclusion," he says. "Life is filled with suffering so that we may know what it is like to experience joy. Without an opposing standard by which to measure joy, comfort, health and monetary wealth, we cannot experience the true meaning of happiness."

 

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