I Was Fighting Cancer and a Custody Battle at the Same Time
When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, my first thought was not about chemotherapy, statistics, or what treatment might do to my body.
My first thought was:
I have to be here for my daughter.
At the same time I was preparing to fight blood cancer, I was also fighting a custody battle.
Either experience would have been overwhelming on its own. I was trying to carry both at once.
For years, I dealt with exhaustion and shortness of breath without understanding why. Eventually, bloodwork showed that my hemoglobin had fallen to six. I began receiving blood transfusions while doctors tried to determine why my body was not maintaining enough blood.
That search led to a multiple myeloma diagnosis.
Treatment included chemotherapy, medications, frequent injections, and eventually a stem-cell transplant. There were days when I attended online college classes from a hospital bed and turned off my camera because I did not want anyone to know where I was.
While all of that was happening, I was still trying to protect my role as a father.
I was advised not to openly discuss my treatment during the custody case because there was concern that my health could be used against me. When a home visit was possible, I sometimes put my medications away so cancer would not become the only thing people saw when evaluating me as a parent.
I was already afraid that the disease might take me away from my daughter. I did not want it to threaten my opportunity to raise her too.
Fatherhood did not make the fear disappear.
It gave me a reason to keep moving through it.
My struggles with anxiety and depression also began long before cancer. The diagnosis added another emotional burden, but it did not create the entire mental-health story.
Men are often taught to hide fear, anxiety, and pain. Talking about those things can feel like weakness.
I have learned that strength does not mean never being afraid.
Sometimes strength means admitting the fear is real and continuing anyway.
Those experiences eventually became my memoir, Rise Anyway: A Memoir of Survival, Fatherhood, and Becoming.
I recently shared this journey with Dave Alexander on Miami Valley View, an iHeartMedia Dayton public-service program.
We discussed multiple myeloma, cancer treatment, mental health, fatherhood, the custody battle, and why I decided to turn painful memories into a book.
Listen to the full official interview on iHeart:
Author Brice Davis
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Brice Davis is a digital creator and cultural commentator known for real-time analysis of hip-hop culture, trending topics, and community co
You do not have to feel strong every day to keep moving forward.
Sometimes, you simply have to rise anyway.
