“Am I going to die?”
After being diagnosed with a benign brain tumor on June 26th, 2020, Emma-Jane Hinton’s life forever changed. However, even though she had to learn to navigate life differently, it didn’t stop her from living the life she wanted. And now, four years later, she’s on the path to helping others who also struggle with cancer or other illnesses.
For many, being diagnosed with a tumor is a nightmare turned into reality. But for Hinton, her diagnosis didn’t make her any more or less fearful. Hinton states that after receiving her diagnosis, she was ready to fight it despite cancer’s various treatments such as “surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.” Although the journey was difficult with constant painful headaches, exhaustion, and anxiety from the treatments, Hinton says, “Life didn’t change much other than the fact that my family and I had to make time for chemotherapy and a lot of doctor’s appointments. We also had to be careful with making sure to not bring any germs around me because my immune system was weak.”
Despite her nonchalant attitude, Hinton hadn’t completely come to terms with her diagnosis in the beginning. Yet, she found comfort in “asking my doctors if I would die due to my diagnosis. They reassured me that I would not die, and from there, I was able to put my best foot forward and stay positive!”
After about two years since her diagnosis, Hinton still has a piece of her tumor remaining because her surgeons weren’t able to safely remove it without the risk of hurting her. Yet, on March 3rd, 2021, she was excited to announce that she was officially declared “No Evidence of Disease”.
To help others who are going through the same situation or something similar, Hinton decided to bring her passion to Charter. At Charter, the club ‘Relay for Life’ has made its way around campus for its numerous fundraising events, and has allowed for the school and others to come together as a community and raise money to fund the future of cancer research and support those affected by cancer. Hinton herself has raised thousands of dollars, making her the highest fundraiser. “I wanted to raise money for Relay for Life because I simply wanted to give back. I’ve dealt with my own medical issues and have had financial help from other organizations, so I wanted to return the favor. I will also do anything to stop cancer from affecting more people.” Hinton also says she has been able to raise money through “my mom’s coworkers. Everybody on her [work] shift really pushed the cause and made sure to spread the word and get other people to donate! I also hosted a bake sale and raised around 500 dollars through that.”
In her own time, Hinton continues to raise money for cancer research exclaiming “Although I didn’t have cancer, I know and have firsthand experience of how cancer affects people, so I wanted to be involved in cancer research because the closer we are to a cure, that is one less life that cancer will affect or take.”
With all the work Hinton has done, she hopes to become a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. “I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was in 2nd grade, but I feel like my passion was confirmed after my journey because I really do love my doctors and what they’ve done for me, so I want to do the same for other patients! I also feel that I’ll have a very big connection with patients as a doctor because I have experienced something they might be going through as well!”
Through her toughest battle, Hinton has always remained strong and has persevered through. Along with everybody else who is struggling with an illness, Hinton wants to let them know one thing: “To anybody that is being affected by cancer, keep your head up, stay positive, and keep pushing forward. It’s so cliché and it’s easier said than done, but it really does make things just a little bit easier and it definitely takes some weight off of the huge ton that cancer puts on people’s shoulders!”
