“The last three years since everything happened, our relationship is way better than it was before.” Before he was more of a loner,” Ben said.
“With so many people caring for him, his personality became more relaxed. Gardner’s older brother, Ben, has seen the change in his brother and the difference in the family dynamic. Maybe it’s five months or it’s five years.”ĭespite everything that has happen to Garner in the last four years, his experience with cancer has given him a new outlook. “But the scariest thing for me is when they say this disease has no cure. I need a cane to walk, my left hand is completely disabled and I can’t drive,” Gardner said. “I couldn’t sleep, the steroids made me hungry all the time and I gained about 60 pounds. Within two days of being admitted, Gardner had his first brain surgery.įor six weeks following the surgery, he went through what he describes as an exhausting, daily ritual of radiation and chemotherapy. One day he collapsed and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. His condition went from bad to worse in the months that followed. It was pretty clear something was wrong, but I was in denial,” he said. “My left thumb became numb and the left side of my face started drooping. Then one day strange things started happening to his body. However, after trying various engineering jobs, his career was not settled. With a bachelor’s degree in math from Cornell University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, he seemed on track to a promising career. Now, almost four years after his initial diagnosis, Gardner is living life on his terms and enjoying the person he is now.Īt 32, Gardner was in transition. When the cancer returned nearly two years later, he was told that survival under similar circumstances was only a month.
When Gardner was first diagnosed, doctors told him he had about 18 months to live. Although one in four deaths in the United States is due to cancer, a recent study by the American Cancer Association reports that cancer death rates have dropped 20 percent from 1991 to 2009. Until a few years ago, a cancer diagnosis was viewed as an automatic death sentence. He is now undergoing his second round of treatment. It was successfully treated but then returned in 2012. In 2009, Gardner was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This gives him time to recover from his chemotherapy. Gardner attends class at the South Austin Campus once a week and receives the rest of his instruction online. Like many busy ACC students, 36-year-old graphic design major Daniel Gardner takes advantage of the flexible scheduling provided by hybrid classes. ACC student Daniel Gardner is one of them. More young people are surviving cancer than ever before.