Surviving and thriving: Music and ‘angels’ help a teen cancer patient and her family

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, but when you are diagnosed with this life-threatening disease, every second of every day is one of awareness. My own diagnosis came in 2018 when I was just 18 and I was told I had acute myeloid leukemia. It was devastating for me and my family. I don’t think we could have ever anticipated what it would take from us or what it would bring.

As a harpist, music had always been my salve, but with cancer, this was amplified. Music became “a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear,” as a British neurologist once called it. In a nutshell, music was my everything.

However, I have to confess, initially, I was scared. It was my senior year of high school, and every audition, competition, performance and milestone had to be postponed. I had lost so many moments that every high schooler gets to experience. But what frightened me more than anything wasn’t what I was missing, but what I stood to lose: my music.

Hospitals aren’t quite the same as recital halls, but my dad dutifully brought my harp to my hospital room so whenever I had enough energy, I could sit down and move my fingers across the strings again. In place of big audiences, Wolfson Children’s Hospital’s medical staff, along with other patients, quickly became my applauding spectators and cheered for me.

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And while there wasn’t a big stage at Wolfson, there was a big Jacksonville celebrity who made an appearance. Coach Tom Coughlin and his daughter, Keli, stopped by my room during a hospital visit. I’ll never forget it because it was the fourth day of my third round of chemo in less than three months.

Coach Coughlin and his daughter were there with their foundation, the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund. I offered to play for them and when I concluded, Coach Coughlin said, “Wow. That was terrific. What was the name of that song?”

I told him it was called “Angel’s Hymn,” and (in retrospect) I realize how appropriate it was. No one fights cancer alone and during my treatment, organizations like Coach Coughlin’s were our angels, helping my family with some of our financial demands. While life seems to stand still when a child has cancer, bills don’t. Our single-income household leaned on the Jay Fund and others like it to pay for groceries, utilities and other bills.

When I was in the hospital, having my harp close to me and keeping the notes under my fingers had not only helped to keep me connected to who I am, but also to remind me that there was something I wanted to return to — something that gave me a reason to get better.

After treatment, I slowly began to return to something close to normalcy. I was awarded college scholarships that enabled me to continue my education and receive a degree in harp performance. I also began to realize that being a cancer survivor had become part of who I am.

I don’t want to walk away from what I have experienced; I want to raise awareness and give back to the people and foundations that made it possible for me to get through one of the scariest times of my life.

Throughout my college years, I played the harp and shared my cancer story at events focused on raising awareness and money for childhood cancer, an area of medicine that is consistently underfunded. But having emotional and financial support from organizations assisting families like mine was the true music to our ears and the kind of peace I hope for others.

So, as you mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, please remember there are many children and families like mine that need your support to reach their goal of being healthy again.

Isabelle Scott is a cancer survivor from Jacksonville. She currently attends FSU, where she is pursuing a masters degree in music.

This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions. 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Surviving and thriving: Music and ‘angels’ help a teen cancer patient