“Ignorance is bliss” is a common saying that holds true in many aspects of life, including health. However, your health journey is only bliss until you receive an unanticipated diagnosis. I was 15 when my ignorance ran out as two painful words emerged from my father’s doctor saying “it’s cancer”. With those two words, the entire trajectory of my life changed. 

With a whirlwind of emotions and fear, I began searching every nook and crevice of the internet trying to find out the implications of having stage 4 lymphoma. After reading article after article and comment after comment with mixed information, I looked to an advocacy group for answers. What I found were the kindest people who helped condense hundreds if not thousands of pages of information down to a single conversation that reassured and gave me hope that my father would be okay.

At the time of the diagnosis, I had no idea of what I wanted to be in life. I had always been intrigued with data and the power that numbers have, but I had assumed my love for data would land me somewhere in finance. Little did I know that as I am studying economics and finance in college that the landscape of the medical world would shift and companies like Leapcure would emerge that are equally data driven and patient centric. Once I came to the realization that I could use my love for numbers to help bring hope to people in the same way that an advocacy group had once done for myself and my family, I knew this is where I belonged. 

Today my father is cancer free, advocacy groups are larger and more dominant in the space than ever before, and data is driving meaningful change in modern medicine. I could not be more thankful to be able to work alongside a team that shares the same mission and dream of helping change the world.