From chemo to convocation: MUN graduate finishes degree on time despite cancer
CBC News | Posted: May 29, 2018 6:20 PM | Last Updated: May 29, 2018
Brean Marshall continued studies during treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma
A cancer diagnosis at 19 didn't stop Brean Marshall from convocating on time and with a law school admission letter in hand.
Marshall attended her convocation at Memorial University of Newfoundland Tuesday.
It's the realization of a goal that did not seem guaranteed when she discovered a bump on her neck, then noticed it growing and spreading down to her collarbone.
"My parents saw it and said 'You're going immediately,' and my doctor immediately sent me for some tests," Marshall, who is now 22, told the St. John's Morning Show Tuesday.
Marshall, who is from Clarke's Beach, was soon diagnosed with stage III Hodgkin's lymphoma in the fall semester of her second year, and began six months of chemotherapy right before Christmas 2015.
'I was not about to let that grade go'
Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that begins in white blood cells in the body's lymphatic system, is most common in younger adults or those aged 55 and older.
In 2017, 990 Canadians were diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and 140 died of the disease, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Many people who received a serious cancer diagnosis, one that required six months of chemo, would understandably elect to postpone their schooling until they recovered.
Not Marshall. She decided to push on, telling only the professors who had to know about her diagnosis because the beginning of her treatment might interfere with their exams.
Any of the exams that were affected did get done, at a later date, Marshall said.
"I had put in the semester's worth of work. I was not about to let that grade go."
Leaving school wasn't on the table
When the new semester began, Marshall got back to work, attending classes, taking chemotherapy, and staying on top of her schoolwork.
"I know my family would have supported me whatever I wanted to do," she said of her decision to stay at Memorial, adding that she didn't consider leaving school an option.
I was pretty private about the whole thing … a lot of my friends didn't know. - Brean Marshall
She said she was lucky that chemotherapy didn't make her as ill as it does some other patients, but acknowledged that it did still eat up a day or two of every week — a challenge while taking university courses.
But her professors, and many of her friends, didn't even know she was ill, Marshall said.
"I was pretty private about the whole thing … a lot of my friends didn't know," she said.
"A lot of people didn't know until three months in, or until it was over."
Looking back, she thinks her privacy around the situation was a way to exercise some control during a time of her life when a lot was very much out of her control.
"I kind of just wanted to keep it to myself," she said. "I guess I could kind of have some control over the narrative that way."
In the end, having school to focus on was a good mental distraction from the reality of cancer and treatment, Marshall said, and she would do things the same way again.
Heading to law school
Today Marshall will graduate from Memorial University with a B.A. in law and society and a minor in political science. She completed a criminology certificate at Memorial last year.
Next fall, she will head to the University of New Brunswick to study law, which she thinks is a good fit for someone who clearly likes a challenge.
She credits professors like Amanda Bittner of Memorial's political science department for their support, including references for her law school application.
Marshall, who hasn't decided yet on an area of specialty, hopes to return to Newfoundland and Labrador to practice law — but the last few years have taught her to keep other possible futures in mind.
"I've definitely learned to keep my options open. So I'm just going to go and see what happens."