ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Cancer. It's the devastating reality for a young man studying at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences.
Jonathan Kirby, 25, is using it to motivate him to finish school and one day treat his own patients as a doctor.
Far from his New York home, while studying in Florida to earn his degree, Kirby felt a lump under his armpit. At first, doctors told him it was non-cancerous, but it continued to grow.
He went to see a hematologist, who diagnosed him with stage four diffused large b-cell lymphoma.
“They’re able to show you where the cancer is, and my bone marrow was lit up in orange in all different types of colors,” Kirby said. “My spleen, my liver, and just looking at that image was definitely kind of sad.”
Kirby is undergoing eight hours of chemotherapy every three weeks, causing fatigue.
Classmates call his smile “bright enough to light up a room” and started a GoFundMe to help Kirby pay for medical expenses. So far, it’s raised nearly $28,000.
He said support from family, friends, the school and even strangers has been overwhelming.
“It was really, really fulfilling to know that there’s that many people that want to support me in any way they can, “ Kirby said. “And it was a great way to be able to answer those questions from people that are always asking, ‘How can I help? What can I do?’”
After the third round of chemo, doctors will perform another PET scan to find out if the treatments are working. The prognosis is good because of his age and the fact that the cancer is curable.
Kirby said this experience will give him a unique perspective as a physical therapist.
“You have to move,” Kirby said. “You have to get up and do what you can do, and so, as physical therapists and especially going into this profession, it’s going to give me a different light that I know a lot of people don’t have.”
He’ll graduate in December.