This past August I attended my first ever Cancer Con event in Atlanta. I have always wanted to attend one of their events and have always wanted to visit Atlanta so it was meant to be. I was a little bit nervous about going to a new city and new events by myself. As soon as I arrived at the hotel I immediately felt welcomed and was really excited for the whole weekend. When I walked into my hotel room and met my roommate I could tell that this was going to be an amazing weekend. After we talked for a bit, I said “I’m going to go to World of Coca Cola later, do you wanna come?” and they said yeah! So we went to World of Coca Cola that night which was something I have always wanted to check out.

It was a blast and I was so  glad to have a new friend to go there with.  We got along really well and even did a couple other fun activities outside of Cancer Con. Being at Cancer Con and seeing a bunch of cancer survivors and fighters was such a heartwarming feeling. It was amazing to see so many people like myself and not in a hospital setting. It was really great getting to meet so many new people and making new lifelong friends who went through a similar journey as myself.

I learned so many new things from the panels and breakout sessions that I attended. One of my favorite sessions that I attended was about Chemo Brain which is something that I deal with daily after cancer. This panel was very important to me and I learned so much from it. Another one of my favorite activities from Cancer Con would have to be the dance. Normally I am not big on dances, but it was such a fun time and I knew nobody was judging one another. It was so fun to just bust out some funny dance moves on the dance floor to some of my favorite songs.  The hotel was in a prime location to do some sightseeing at popular places in the area which was great, I also liked that they did some activities outside of the hotel. I also made a handful of friends when sitting out by the pool and talking with one another. My first Cancer Con was an incredible experience and I’m already looking forward to attending next year’s event in Texas!! 

By: Chris Kalaytowicz (they/them)