Being told by doctors that you are suffering from a serious illness is something we all dread.

Carina is a 2016-7 Masters student of Broadcast Journalism in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communications Studies at the UEA. As part of her degree, she produced a video based on her own personal experience. Her video has deeply impressed everybody who has seen it, for its clarity, honesty, directness and inspirational approach.

Here Carina explains what led her to make the video – ‘Joyful Cancer’

I made this video as my postgraduate dissertation to show the real lives of cancer people, based on my own discoveries. It is about courage, spirit and love. I want to show people that cancer is not scary.

The documentary was conducted on my own experience. I was diagnosed with breast cancer and and started treatment in March, 2017. However, this disease is not a disaster for me —— even though it has made my body suffer a lot. More crucially, it helped me renew my understanding of the value of life.

After the diagnosis, I grasped every opportunity to experience life in the UK. I’ve met loads of new friends from different countries, and quite a few of them have experienced the strike of breast can-cer. However, we don’t feel painful or miserable, but joyful and grateful towards life. It’s so magic that it makes me a better person and gives me a braver heart and softer spirit. What’s more encouraging, all of my new friends, who have experienced breast cancer, have impressed me a lot. They don’t look like serious patients as people normally imagine. They are optimistic, kind-hearted and energetic.

So this video shows the entire transformation of me, physically and mentally. In the video, I’ve spoken to the people who have been diagnosed with cancer in the past, a cancer group organiser and a charity manager. It’s a joyful discovery. I hope the audience can feel the great potential of human life and gain some inspiration from it.

Carina