At just 21 years old, Jessie Vandals has faced three little words that are sure to frighten even the bravest of the brave.

You. Have. Cancer.

“It just didn’t seem real,” he told a crowd of fellow cancer survivors at Windham Hospital recently. “You never really think at first that you’re going to get cancer. You never expect to hear that from your doctor.”

Hearing this diagnosis was overwhelming for Jessie.

“At your first visit to oncology, you start hearing about your options for therapy,” he recalled. “That’s when it starts to set in and hit you hard.”

For Jessie, fear – particularly a fear of needles – became a powerfully paralyzing defense mechanism that nearly made him walk away from any treatment whatsoever.

“At first, I didn’t want to do anything. I know (cancer treatment) is a series of IV’s and tests. I was pretty dead set that I wasn’t going to do it for awhile. It seemed pretty serious and too far along. Is it worth fighting if there may not be a positive result?”

But Jessie was convinced to pursue his treatment – and persevere through them – by the clinicians of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at Windham Hospital, led by oncology nurse navigator Lori Terranova and oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Kamradt from Oncology Associates.

“Jessie had a tough time when he first came (to our practice),” said Dr. Kamradt. “He was reluctant to get treatment. He hated CAT scans. He definitely hated needles,” said Dr. Kamradt. “So we personalized his care, taking took into account his feelings and his wishes, and we addressed his illness directly.”

“Jessie’s a great example of what cancer patients go through. They are initially scared. They are unsure. They don’t know what’s behind the next door. For Jessie, that was a bit paralyzing in the beginning.”

Over time, Jessie’s courage and strength grew, in part, because he learned to approach his cancer not as one large and overwhelming issue, but in smaller, more manageable steps.

“He approached (cancer treatment) as several little hurdles to jump over. And as he jumped over each hurdle, he got closer and closer to the finish line, finally crossing that finish line,” said Dr. Kamradt, who reports that Jessie’s cancer is now in remission.

To learn more about cancer services at Windham Hospital, visit hartfordhealthcare.org/cancer or call Cancer Connect 855.255.6181.