Mohamed Ali, Morocco

Cancer turned my world upside down. As a 9 years old child, cancer to me was a contagious disease, chronicled maybe but never curable. I remember the professor coming up to me with several doctors behind his back, trying to describe my condition in the simplest way possible,"do you know what cancer is?" he said, I replied hesitatingly, "is i... is it aids?", and i got the whole room laughing at my innocent answer, with a wide smile he explained to me what cancer is and what type of leukemia exactly have. Months after my diagnosis in the hospital and I am still not used to my treatment, vomit, nausea, headaches and joints pain, apparently the medication had some side effects that I had to live with, luckily, I was recommended an association called AMAL back then, it became an interesting companion that I found during my journey, this association not only helps patients with their treatments yet it educates them about their health conditions, as it organizes campaigns to spread awareness against cancer and that helped a lot of patients through what they have been struggling with during their treatment process, and since I was enlightened with their workflow since I was a child, you would always find me in organized events by AMAL, giving back to the community what I have been receiving all these years from the association.

14 years after, and I am still a CML patient, the side effects of TKI's are minor now, we could definitely say that my body got used to the treatment, or I shall say them cancer cells got used to my body, because those stubborn bastards just don't seem to quit, not any time soon, how miniscule yet problematic they are. However i keep asking myself, what would it be like living without a treatment?, and my answer is always the same, "weird".