Richard Strickland

Richard Strickland wrote a poem about his tumors, that was inspired by a Robert Louis Stevenson poem. 

I have a little tumor and it lives inside of me.

I didn’t know until the X-ray made it plain to me.

It sends out baby tumors from my heels up to my head;

Metastasis is what they call this deadly kind of spread.

The awful thing about them is the way they like to grow —

Not at all like proper tissues, which is always very slow;

They grow at such a rapid pace while other tissues crawl,

That if I don’t get treated, they will soon engulf me all.

Each morning, very early, when the sun’s rays just arrive,

I start the day with gratitude that I am still alive;

I look inside and say I’m brave and try to banish dread.

I may feel weak, I may be slow, but still I’m not yet dead.

The tumors shoot me painful signals almost every day,

To get relief I know the doctor’s going to find a way

To treat me and attack the tumors so to lift this pall,

And make them all so little that there’s none of them at all.

This poem was written and submitted by Richard Strickland. The article reflects the views Strickland and not of CURE®. This is also not supposed to be intended as medical advice.

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I wrote a poem similar to Robert Louis Stevenson’s “My Shadow” about my cancer diagnosis. 

My Tumors: A Poem Inspired By Stevenson’s ‘My Shadow’

Dr. Oliver Press (University of Washington Medical Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance) was a social friend, a fellow lap-swimmer whom I got to know at the local public pool. When I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and it came time to be treated via chemotherapy, “Ollie” was assigned as my oncologist. I have been in full remission for seven years. Dr. Press died of a form of brain cancer in September 2017. I saw him for the last time at the pool in June 2017. I live with the irony that the man who arrested my cancer died of cancer himself.

This poem was originally submitted for the CURE® 2021 Poetry Contest.

A cancer survivor who is now in remission writes a poem dedicated to the oncologist who helped save his life but later died from brain cancer.

Richard Strickland

My Tumors: A Poem Inspired By Stevenson’s ‘My Shadow’

An Ode to the Oncologist Who Died From Cancer

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