‘SOMETHING TO SHOW FOR IT’ IET student keeps focus on studies during second bout with cancer When Jason Walker began working toward his degree in industrial engineering technology three semesters ago, he was focused on improving the skills he had already been using for more than 17 years. A non-traditional student, Walker previously earned his bachelor’s of science in natural resource management from Lincoln University and is currently an operations partner for Amcor in Joplin. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve wanted to be more involved in planning and trying to improve things,” said Walker. That focus hasn’t been lessened as he undergoes treatment for cancer for the second time in two years.
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“I was diagnosed at the end of March in 2021,” he says. “I’m 47 and work on my feet all day, and I thought I had pulled something. It turned out to be lymphoma. It was very diffuse … it had spread over the majority of my body when they found it.” He responded well to chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which he wrapped up last fall. “Everything looked good then,” Walker says. “I thought we had it whooped.” A follow-up scan in February found the cancer had returned, however; this time in his spleen and the lobes of his lungs. As he undergoes another round of aggressive treatment, he says his studies are helping him get him through.
CROSSROADS MAGAZINE
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SPRING 2022
