William Yank's Cancer Journey
- William Yank was first diagnosed with leukemia in 2018 when he was a 21-year-old college student interning in Washington, D.C.
- He overcame the initial shock of being diagnosed to accept his cancer, all while becoming mentally and emotionally stronger.
- He beat cancer three times and remains a source of inspiration and motivation to his nearly 100,000 followers on TikTok.
It was the summer of 2018. William Yank, then a 21-year-old college student, had just started an internship in Washington, D.C. He was “happy, ambitious, ready to go,” until he was dealt a major blow. He almost lost his life. He was misdiagnosed as having mono, but it turned out to be far worse. He was rushed to the ICU at Johns Hopkins, where blood tests later revealed septic shock and organ failure. Yank was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic
leukemia (ALL).
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Read More Yank says when he was finally able to look himself in the mirror for the first time at the hospital, he was scared. But he did not let fear consume him for too long. He knew he had to pick himself back up. “These emotions of sadness and frustration, anger, sorrow, depression. Those emotions when I felt them, it’s exactly what pushed me to want to walk again,” he says. “Want to get back on my two feet.”
Related: We Dare You Not To Smile as Survivors Ring Bells Celebrating End of Cancer Journeys in Uplifting TikTok Videos Today, Yank, now a 23-year-old, has survived cancer not once, but three times. He has a big
following on TikTok where he creates positive, at times funny, videos that he has dubbed, “
The Leukemia Diaries.” His nearly 100,000 followers are inspired by his remarkable strength during the most challenging of times. He has graciously agreed to allow us to use his content in order to help our community.
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Noorulain Khawaja is a freelance multimedia journalist. Read More