17 Years and I’m Still Here
Chris Parrish
by Chris Parrish
Seventeen years.
And still—here I am.
I wake, I breathe, I move through the world
carrying a quiet wow
beneath my ribs.
They told me the odds.
I met them with fire.
Chemo drips, sleepless nights,
machines beeping in time with my heart,
and still—somehow—this heart kept rhythm.
There were hands that held me,
words that steadied me,
strangers who smiled
on days I needed light the most.
Maybe they never knew what they gave me.
But I do.
Seventeen years.
Of bloodwork and scanxiety,
of hope, held tight like breath.
Of victories whispered,
tears that came soft and fierce.
I think of the doctors,
the nurses who saw me not as a case,
but as a person with stories.
My mother—warrior beside me.
My siblings—safety nets I fell into.
And me—pinching myself daily,
because survival still feels surreal.
Today is not just a date.
It’s a crown.
A quiet roar.
A sacred mile marker
etched in grace and grit.
Seventeen years.
I did this.
I am doing this.
And I am so, so grateful
for every breath,
every step,
every soul who helped carry me here.
Chris Parrish is a 17-year stage IV pancreatic cancer survivor living in Brewer, ME.
