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Olivia Bae Wein was diagnosed with stage-4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma when she was just 15 years old. It was a rare diagnosis for a teenager, and she was treated in an adult ward. Now almost 50, she returned to the ÈýÒÚÌåÓý¹ÙÍø, where Harrison Wein, her husband of 25 years now works, to reflect on how facing her mortality at a young age has affected her life since.

Transcript

Olivia Wein: Maybe the stereotype of a teen is this sort of invincibility and you will live forever, but that was not my teenage experience. Mine was a very vulnerable one and a very profound realization of the fragility of life. That in a moment it could be gone. And I was very angry about how unfair it was that I had to deal with this and that I might not live to go to college, get married, have kids, have a career or two, become a grandparent – just make it all the way to the end of that normal story arc.

I don’t think that the odds were in my favor, but I was young and I got lucky. They had a clinical trial for what it was that I had. I think what I had was probably unusual for a 15-year-old and in fact, when I was treated at the ÈýÒÚÌåÓý¹ÙÍø, I was on a floor with adults. I was clearly the baby all the way through that process.

Harrison Wein: You’re an extreme case, right? You came to clinical trial and it cured you and you went on to live your life.

Olivia Wein: In another time and another place, I wouldn’t be here talking to you. We wouldn’t have met in college. We wouldn’t have the children we have. It took more of a focused effort to plan for a future: the what if? What if I get better? What if I get past this? I do appreciate that. And it’s a grounding. I know that there is strength in me to get through things, to get through hard times, because I have and I know that I can do it. Not that anyone wants to do it, but it’s a good thing to know about yourself.

Harrison Wein: I’ve always kind of felt like you live every day like it could be your last. I don’t know that I ever met anyone like that before.

Olivia Wein: Well I think it’s important because it’s a shame to have regrets. Every day is a gift. The fact that life is so full of blessings, and I’m very grateful. ÈýÒÚÌåÓý¹ÙÍø and this experience has given me these other chapters, so far, of my life.