Nigerian Lady Who Was Suddenly Diagnosed With Cancer Same Year SheStarted Her PhD In The United, Conquers As She Graduates With CGPA: 4.0/4.0

Nigerian lady named Amaka Ifeduba Ph.D, has shared her career journey on LinkedIn after coincidentally being diagnosed with cancer the same year, she started her PhD program.

She started in January 2022 and by September she was diagnosed with cancer, she went on to have her surgery and she conquered as she graduated with a CGPA: 4.0/4.0.

Sharing her story on LinkedIn, she wrote:

“Yeah, I beat CANCER💃

(I finally found the courage to share after 2 years 🙈 )

Everyday someone asks me why I am always positive and makes it my business to inspire others.

Many have assumed it’s because my life is perfect 🤣

Well, this is my story:

➟ Jan 1, 2022: I started my PhD in the United States having traveled > 6000 miles from Nigeria ALONE.

➟ Sept 29, 2022: I was suddenly diagnosed with CANCER and booked to have an emergency surgery by Oct 7th.

↳ I negotiated with my doctor for a later date (Oct.20) because I had received an award from Corteva Agriscience and was invited to speak in the New Frontiers Conference (Oct. 11-13)

↳ Everyone expected me to cancel the trip, it made total sense, right? You just learnt you had CANCER 😳

↳ Well, I opted not to, figured if I was going to die, I might as well go out with a bang 😊

➟ Oct 11-13, 2022: I went to Corteva, gave my talk and had a blast.

➟ Oct 20, 2022: I went through a life-changing open-abdomen surgery with no family support but for my dear Mentor, Dr. Olatunde and a few good friends.

↳ I lost over 60 pounds of my body weight and became thin as a rake.

↳ Recovery was brutal, I missed three months of in-person schooling and research work.

➟ Nov 1, 2022: I opted to continue my classes online, again everyone thought I was crazy

↳ I had the option to carry-over my courses to the following year but I chose NOT to!

➜ NO, I wasn’t trying to prove I was STRONG!

↳ I was just trying to stay SANE.

↳ I needed to channel my pain and suffering to something else, otherwise I would FALL APART.

➜ And falling apart was something I could not afford.

↳ I aced all those courses by the way. Graduated with CGPA: 4.0/4.0

Oct. 11, 2024: Successfully defended my dissertation and joined the 2% of the world with a Ph.D 💃

My reason for sharing my story is to inspire you!

It’s a hard life we live in!

We all go through hardships, but having a positive attitude can make terrible situations more bearable.

In all my struggles, I was certain of one fact:

➜ Things could have turned out way worse than they did.

So I decided my glass was half-full rather than half-empty.

You can choose that too!”

Source: Dr. Amaka Ifeduba | LinkedIn

Email: elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com