Presentations - Tiana Cornelius

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Tiana Cornelius' Presentation

March 14, 2003  

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Honored to be a recipient of the Cancer Survivors’ Fund Scholarship, I’m currently enrolled as a junior at Barnard College of Columbia University. I transferred this past September, planning to major in music, but due to school policy, I ended up majoring in Economics. Nonetheless, I’ve been a student of Classical Voice for over 10 years and continuing my study out of school.

The College experience is not something I take for granted; I savor the rich academic environment in which I am currently immersed – a world of professors, students, conversation, parties and, of course, exams. It is a sharp contrast to the world of doctors, patients, diagnoses, anguish, and medical tests that described my reality just 3 years ago.

 At 18 years old, as a sophomore at Community College, I had to drop out to save my life. I don’t like to say I “lost” 2 years of my life to cancer, but I was enrolled in one of the most physically and mentally demanding programs in the nation, in the world… cancer therapy.

My diagnosis was a tour de force of doctors appointments, biopsies, misdiagnoses and uncertainties. Treatment was a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, ups and downs, feeling good one day and incapacitated the next, fellow patients finishing therapy, and fellow patients dying.

I am one of the lucky ones. Learning from my experience, not only did I survive, but emerged as a wiser, stronger person.

Being a Cancer patient, a sick, bald girl, put me in a place of helplessness and outside pity. As a recipient of the charity of others, I learned what real charity is. It is not the act of giving out of obligation, but giving from the heart. One of my favorite volunteers was the businessman who dressed up like Santa Claus and gave out gifts in the pediatric cancer ward over Christmas. The rest were hospital volunteers who would spend their afternoons with me while I received intravenous chemotherapy. They inspired me to continue as a volunteer today because I now understand the tremendous impact one person, one act of kindness, can make.

Upon finishing therapy, I set out on a long bumpy road. I completed the requirements for my Associates degree in Mathematics with Honors from SUNY Rockland, and then took a year off to explore the New York City performing arts world. Lying on my back for a year gave me the desire to sing and dance as soon as I was physically able. I wanted to prove to myself that I could triumph over the side effects of treatment – fatigue, muscle loss, foot drop, jaw lock, and radiation to my head and neck that caused me to lose my voice. So I trained and ended up singing opera downtown with the Amato Opera, and studying Dance at the Broadway Dance Center.

I discovered the Cancer Survivors’ Scholarship while applying to transfer schools and first made contact with Yeshim Yonter in August… we finally met in person this past Wednesday.

Yeshim is a tornado of golden light – for those of you who know her understand. She radiates warm energy while whirling around, destroying any obstacle in her path to help and heal others. She continually inspires me.

I don’t know whether I’ll end up in Hollywood, Broadway or Wall Street, but it is my hope that with my particular gifts and talents, I can touch others as Yeshim has touched me. I realize now that there are miracles, but only for those who believe.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your evening. 

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