Chasing Life is a TV show about a young woman who has a great life, but who is diagnosed with cancer. The questions that this show arouses are: What will you do if you find out that you are diagnosed with cancer? What would you do if the doctor told you that you had only six more months to live? How would you live the last days of your life? What kind of future would you plan and? What would you try to accomplish for such a short period of time?
This show is a drama and it is about a twenty-four year old April Carver who finds out that she has cancer by accident while donating blood. She is a young ambitious girl whose whole life is in front of her and she is looking forward to the future and to her career as a journalist. Her goal is to live a peaceful life with her family after the loss of her father. This story teaches people about the fact that nothing in life is for granted, not even life itself and that they should live each day as if it were their last day on earth. This is a life-changing situation and it is ironic to find out that one has cancer while they are donating blood in order to help save lives of other people.
Moreover, April’s life was finally becoming meaningful because started to date her colleague and they began to plan their life together. It seems unbelievable to be happening to someone whose life and adulthood have just begun, but this TV show serves as a warning to people not to take anything for granted. There is the other side of the story which means that every cloud has a silver lining because something good can might happen even under the bad circumstances. Everything happens for a reason and when people accept that, life becomes much easier.
This TV show is supposed to bring social change because it makes lives of people who suffer from cancer more visible. Their struggles become more real for people when they see it on television. After the death of her father, April finds out that her father had a secret family and that she has a sister. This is a shock for her and for her family and it changes her opinion towards her father. However, it turns out that the sister is the only person whose bone marrow matches April’s. It turns out that she gets a sister and a chance for recovery with her help. There is pleasure in this situation because there is hope for April and everybody is expecting for her to get well as soon as possible.
The fact that the April has a sister is shocking at first, but it turns out to be a good thing. Moreover, April starts attending support groups where she meets people of various ages and genders and in such a place she meets Leo, a young millionaire who has a brain tumor. He does not want to have a surgery because of the potential risks and side-effects. People who suffer from serious illnesses are always afraid of the outcome, but it is important for them to keep the faith and to hope for the best. Leo believes that a patient suffering from cancer has nothing to lose and that it is crazy. Such a person has no worries in life according to Leo and he shares his ideas with April.
The concept of death is what is most scary about life and a patient suffering from cancer has nothing to worry about because death is approaching for him. However, April manages to persuade Leo to have the surgery which turns out to be a success. This is a great encouragement for people who have cancer because there is always hope and they should never think about surrendering. Leo and April fall in love and he asks her to marry him. Her dream of wearing a white dress comes true and it turns out that having cancer was the best thing that could have ever happened to her in life. Leo proposes to her after a short romance because he knows as well as April that people should not waste their time in life and that they should never delay things because everything might be gone unexpectedly.
Chasing Life is not just a TV drama because it deals with educational issues. It reflects the lives of people suffering from cancer and the way they deal with it which affects public opinion and can lead to a social change. There is also pleasure in watching this content because people can feel happiness when they see the terminally ill patients recover. The message of the show is that there is always hope and that life is precious and priceless. When a person is diagnosed with cancer for the first time especially if it happens unexpectedly, they have to be in shock. This person suddenly becomes a patient who is supposed to die soon and to receive chemotherapy which has horrible side effects. Moreover, the patient is not the only one who suffers from the illness because the family suffers as well. The first obstacle that April had was to decide who she was going to tell first about her diagnosis. Her mother and the rest of the family as well as friends are people who suffer along with April, but they are also the people who cheer her up on her path to recovery.
Chasing Life is a show that talks about suffering from cancer in a dramatic way and about support groups where people encourage one another. Cancer can affect anybody regardless of their age or gender and it is best to remain hopeful and courageous.
Works Cited
Fogel, Susanna, and Joni Lefkowitz, prod. Chasing Life. Disney–ABC Domestic Television, 2014. DVD.
