Crystal Harper

Anticipatory nausea was one of the worst feelings I experienced during cancer treatment. I would usually get sick just at the thought of an upcoming chemo appointment, even days before...

It’s been a few years now since I heard the words, “you have cancer.” On one hand, I can’t believe so much time has passed. On another, it feels like...

When most people think of chemotherapy, they are under the general understanding that it makes cancer patients pretty sick. That’s how it’s portrayed in movies and that’s exactly what I...

Hi Everyone! I want to quickly reintroduce myself because it’s been quite a while since my last post. However, some of you may be vaguely familiar with my story because...

Deciding whether or not to be public with your cancer journey is a very personal decision and there is no right or easy answer. There are definitely good and bad...

I found it really difficult to share information with friends and family about what I was dealing with before and even during my diagnosis. My mom and I sat down...

I was doing some spring cleaning on my computer and happened to find a journal entry from just weeks after I was diagnosed with cancer. After reading through it and...

While I was going through treatment, I used to get messages from people all the time saying something along the lines of, “I was having a really bad day but...

You may have read one of my previous posts about dating after cancer where I talked about some of the many struggles I was having after cancer treatment. A normal...

Before every chemotherapy appointment, I packed a tote bag full of things that I found comforting or useful. Once I finished chemo, I started to make bags for other cancer...

In Part 1 of this story, I talked about my new job as a broadcast meteorologist. It was a morning news position which was the exact opposite of my previous...

I realized I had been writing for Blood-Cancer.com for a couple of months now and never properly introduced myself! Hi, I’m Crystal! I joined the Blood-Cancer.com community about a year...

Having cancer taught me so many things about myself and caused me to feel emotions that I didn’t even know were possible. Obviously, there were many negative sides of being...

This journey has been so eye-opening to me in more ways than I can count. I've learned a lot about myself, but also a lot about the people around me...

Cancer is such an awkward topic. What do you say to someone who has just been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness? How do you talk to them? What can you...

I went on a trip with young adult cancer survivors through a program called First Descents and it was the best trip of my life. I talked a bit about...

People love to talk about my hair now that it’s been growing back. I think a lot of people are trying to be nice when they start these conversations, but...

I was so excited to turn 25 years old. I was about to move across the country to start a new job that I was so excited about. This would...

I had a friend call me about 3 months into the start of my chemotherapy treatment to catch up and see how treatment was going. During this conversation, he started...

I have never loved running. In fact I’ve always dreaded it. For the longest time, a run consisted of slowly jogging a mile or, if I was feeling really ambitious...