dr. Rizzo fun and the topic of my talk
is how to turn tragedies into triumph
how many of us woke up today looked
ourselves in the mirror and thought how
truly grateful we are to be healthy and
alive there’s not many of us who can say
that we don’t take our lives for granted
every single day as a doctor you really
witness how unpredictable life can be
and you learn the importance of being
empathetic towards anyone you ever meet
who you are today might not be who you
are tomorrow you have to master the art
and the ability to put yourself in the
shoes of someone else and really try to
think and feel the way they would in a
difficult situation as a wild list I see
life like playing a while in solo in
public not knowing the instrument but
learning it as you go on at any point
you can play one wrong note and the
entire tune can change or a string can
break and the music could completely
stop what you do in that situation is
important you are the musician and you
decide are you going to walk off the
stage or are you going to stand here fix
what is wrong and finish your while in
peace in my third year of medical school
I had a patient who was an eighteen year
old boy and he had been diagnosed with
blood cancer he wasn’t being treated for
it because he had no money and this
really upset me because I tried to
imagine myself in his situation and what
I decided to do whatever I could because
in that moment I was able to ask myself
how can I make a difference in this
person’s life so I decided to teach
violin to about 15 people and raise a
fund for him and many other cancer
patients like him in that chapter in my
life taught me what a small act of
kindness can do and the power it has so
then I started doing more about it in my
fourth year of medical school we found
out that my maternal uncle had just
found out that the thyroid cancer he
thought he had beaten twice in the past
had returned for the third time and this
time it had spread now my maternal uncle
is someone who was extremely close to me
someone who taught me how to laugh
someone who taught me that in order to
get through this life you must have a
good sense of humor so for the next 7
months my family and I witnessed what a
deadly disease like cancer can do to
someone so full of life it can literally
take away your energy your happiness and
your will to live so we witness what it
did to our loved ones right in front of
our eyes he was deteriorating and there
was nothing that we can do except for
hope for a miracle my final year of
medical school started and one day in
class I thought I got the news that my
uncle had lost his battle against cancer
and when I heard that news the only
thing I could think of was the time when
I went to go see him in the hospital
before he passed away he managed to
smile through all the pain and give me a
thumbs up to let me know that he’s still
trying to fight the disease and that
gave me strength
to face the next chapter in my life
because a week after this happened I
went to class one day and during my
clinical rotation I was checking of
patients and palpating her neck for any
abnormal findings and if you’re a
medical student your biggest tool to
practice whatever you’ve learned is your
own body so naturally to get my concepts
clear I palpate in my own neck first
and to my surprise there was nothing
wrong with her but I found a lump in my
own neck my professor asked me to go get
tests done and many tests in a neck
biopsy later they told me that I had the
same cancer that my uncle did
I didn’t know how to process what was
going on because for me it was unreal to
go to class one day as a medical student
who’s becoming a doctor to save lives
and then I’m supposed to sleep knowing
that I have cancer and I’m a patient now
I hope nobody here ever gets to know or
find out what it feels like to be
registered as a cancer patient in a
hospital when you’re so used to going
around that hospital as a doctor who
saves lives
and that like I said earlier that is
what life is like your role in life can
change like that you can go from saving
lives to needing someone to save your
life what followed was a series of
treatment a surgery and a lot a lot of
treatment required me to stay in the
hospital stay isolated for a few days
which is enough time for me to really
reflect on how I feel about the
situation and find ways in which I can
spread thyroid cancer awareness and the
importance of early detection which is
why few days after I got out of the
hospital my brother who’s been my
biggest support he helped me arrange a
charity bake sale that could help us
raise a fund for thyroid cancer research
and that act of kindness did go a long
way because it helped me reach the
headquarters in New York of United
Nations and pitch my idea over there we
thought we had seen it all and I was
trying very hard to get out all of the
negativity in my life when the biggest
tragedy of all took place my baby
brother
who had been my biggest support who had
been an amazing human being and helped
so many people who’s a medical student
in King Edward Medical University just
didn’t wake out one day so for me to
accept that someone so healthy you know
when I was the one who got sick and he
was completely healthy it didn’t make
sense in that moment I didn’t have any
question in my head
except for why and I guess that
experience taught me that there really
isn’t an answer sometimes life doesn’t
always make sense that put me in a
period of a lot of depression and I
didn’t want to go on in life I think I
think the only source of encouragement
and positivity was my husband who
stepped in and told me that I need to
pass my final exams and graduate on time
until date I thank him for doing that
because he saved me from the poison
which is known as regret now everything
everything seems so trivial when I hear
someone tell me you know their crush
didn’t message them back or you have an
exam that you’re going to fail it all
really doesn’t matter if you are healthy
and you have your loved ones and you’re
okay you’re here so I guess the key in
life is to stop assuming because we all
assume we assume things we assume what
we have today will always be there
tomorrow we assume who we love is always
going to be with us all these
assumptions will never be true they
never have been and they never will
at some point life will prove you wrong
and at that point you can safely say
that you have been through a
life-changing event
and when that happens you’re not the
same person anymore
you have changed don’t let anyone tell
you that that’s not true
you have changed because you cannot
accept that that has happened and once
you’ve accepted it you wish you could
change everything but you can’t and you
cannot forget either because how do you
forget when a big part of your heart has
so I guess the message to really take
home with you today is turning your
tragedies into triumph is not easy the
key to do it is to get a hold of
yourself and tell yourself that your
tragedies do not define who you are as a
person but what you do about them will
define who you become in the future it’s
just take all of that pain and all that
suffering and all that anger and
channelize it into something beautiful
turn it into art that can make
difference in someone else’s lives while
you’re still on this planet utilize your
time to do something good for my parents
and I were also doctors for us it was
the only way we could do this was to
turn everything that we ever felt into
helping people out we established a
foundation called zaniel Hogg foundation
in my brother’s name to carry on and
keep his dream alive of helping people
so every week we set up a free clinic or
if you will get free checkups and
medicines and education and that is what
gives us strength at the end of the day
to go on in life to know that we took
our tragedies and we turn it into
triumph I am here as an example that
I’ve been through all of these tragedies
but I stand before you all as a doctor
as a cancer survivor
as an advocate for free health care and
education as a general secretary of xeno
Hogg foundation and as a Phoenix who has
died multiple times but has risen from
the ashes I would like to end my talk
with a funny saying that my brother used
to have sinned again ATM with a her
morphic ok zin the Guinea p.m. which a higher markup okay Parkway bus
is how to turn tragedies into triumph
how many of us woke up today looked
ourselves in the mirror and thought how
truly grateful we are to be healthy and
alive there’s not many of us who can say
that we don’t take our lives for granted
every single day as a doctor you really
witness how unpredictable life can be
and you learn the importance of being
empathetic towards anyone you ever meet
who you are today might not be who you
are tomorrow you have to master the art
and the ability to put yourself in the
shoes of someone else and really try to
think and feel the way they would in a
difficult situation as a wild list I see
life like playing a while in solo in
public not knowing the instrument but
learning it as you go on at any point
you can play one wrong note and the
entire tune can change or a string can
break and the music could completely
stop what you do in that situation is
important you are the musician and you
decide are you going to walk off the
stage or are you going to stand here fix
what is wrong and finish your while in
peace in my third year of medical school
I had a patient who was an eighteen year
old boy and he had been diagnosed with
blood cancer he wasn’t being treated for
it because he had no money and this
really upset me because I tried to
imagine myself in his situation and what
I decided to do whatever I could because
in that moment I was able to ask myself
how can I make a difference in this
person’s life so I decided to teach
violin to about 15 people and raise a
fund for him and many other cancer
patients like him in that chapter in my
life taught me what a small act of
kindness can do and the power it has so
then I started doing more about it in my
fourth year of medical school we found
out that my maternal uncle had just
found out that the thyroid cancer he
thought he had beaten twice in the past
had returned for the third time and this
time it had spread now my maternal uncle
is someone who was extremely close to me
someone who taught me how to laugh
someone who taught me that in order to
get through this life you must have a
good sense of humor so for the next 7
months my family and I witnessed what a
deadly disease like cancer can do to
someone so full of life it can literally
take away your energy your happiness and
your will to live so we witness what it
did to our loved ones right in front of
our eyes he was deteriorating and there
was nothing that we can do except for
hope for a miracle my final year of
medical school started and one day in
class I thought I got the news that my
uncle had lost his battle against cancer
and when I heard that news the only
thing I could think of was the time when
I went to go see him in the hospital
before he passed away he managed to
smile through all the pain and give me a
thumbs up to let me know that he’s still
trying to fight the disease and that
gave me strength
to face the next chapter in my life
because a week after this happened I
went to class one day and during my
clinical rotation I was checking of
patients and palpating her neck for any
abnormal findings and if you’re a
medical student your biggest tool to
practice whatever you’ve learned is your
own body so naturally to get my concepts
clear I palpate in my own neck first
and to my surprise there was nothing
wrong with her but I found a lump in my
own neck my professor asked me to go get
tests done and many tests in a neck
biopsy later they told me that I had the
same cancer that my uncle did
I didn’t know how to process what was
going on because for me it was unreal to
go to class one day as a medical student
who’s becoming a doctor to save lives
and then I’m supposed to sleep knowing
that I have cancer and I’m a patient now
I hope nobody here ever gets to know or
find out what it feels like to be
registered as a cancer patient in a
hospital when you’re so used to going
around that hospital as a doctor who
saves lives
and that like I said earlier that is
what life is like your role in life can
change like that you can go from saving
lives to needing someone to save your
life what followed was a series of
treatment a surgery and a lot a lot of
treatment required me to stay in the
hospital stay isolated for a few days
which is enough time for me to really
reflect on how I feel about the
situation and find ways in which I can
spread thyroid cancer awareness and the
importance of early detection which is
why few days after I got out of the
hospital my brother who’s been my
biggest support he helped me arrange a
charity bake sale that could help us
raise a fund for thyroid cancer research
and that act of kindness did go a long
way because it helped me reach the
headquarters in New York of United
Nations and pitch my idea over there we
thought we had seen it all and I was
trying very hard to get out all of the
negativity in my life when the biggest
tragedy of all took place my baby
brother
who had been my biggest support who had
been an amazing human being and helped
so many people who’s a medical student
in King Edward Medical University just
didn’t wake out one day so for me to
accept that someone so healthy you know
when I was the one who got sick and he
was completely healthy it didn’t make
sense in that moment I didn’t have any
question in my head
except for why and I guess that
experience taught me that there really
isn’t an answer sometimes life doesn’t
always make sense that put me in a
period of a lot of depression and I
didn’t want to go on in life I think I
think the only source of encouragement
and positivity was my husband who
stepped in and told me that I need to
pass my final exams and graduate on time
until date I thank him for doing that
because he saved me from the poison
which is known as regret now everything
everything seems so trivial when I hear
someone tell me you know their crush
didn’t message them back or you have an
exam that you’re going to fail it all
really doesn’t matter if you are healthy
and you have your loved ones and you’re
okay you’re here so I guess the key in
life is to stop assuming because we all
assume we assume things we assume what
we have today will always be there
tomorrow we assume who we love is always
going to be with us all these
assumptions will never be true they
never have been and they never will
at some point life will prove you wrong
and at that point you can safely say
that you have been through a
life-changing event
and when that happens you’re not the
same person anymore
you have changed don’t let anyone tell
you that that’s not true
you have changed because you cannot
accept that that has happened and once
you’ve accepted it you wish you could
change everything but you can’t and you
cannot forget either because how do you
forget when a big part of your heart has
so I guess the message to really take
home with you today is turning your
tragedies into triumph is not easy the
key to do it is to get a hold of
yourself and tell yourself that your
tragedies do not define who you are as a
person but what you do about them will
define who you become in the future it’s
just take all of that pain and all that
suffering and all that anger and
channelize it into something beautiful
turn it into art that can make
difference in someone else’s lives while
you’re still on this planet utilize your
time to do something good for my parents
and I were also doctors for us it was
the only way we could do this was to
turn everything that we ever felt into
helping people out we established a
foundation called zaniel Hogg foundation
in my brother’s name to carry on and
keep his dream alive of helping people
so every week we set up a free clinic or
if you will get free checkups and
medicines and education and that is what
gives us strength at the end of the day
to go on in life to know that we took
our tragedies and we turn it into
triumph I am here as an example that
I’ve been through all of these tragedies
but I stand before you all as a doctor
as a cancer survivor
as an advocate for free health care and
education as a general secretary of xeno
Hogg foundation and as a Phoenix who has
died multiple times but has risen from
the ashes I would like to end my talk
with a funny saying that my brother used
to have sinned again ATM with a her
morphic ok zin the Guinea p.m. which a higher markup okay Parkway bus
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