Hello and welcome to Moon River.
I’m Rio, a writer, aspiring biologist, and permanently baffled cancer survivor. My sister’s name is Luna, hence the blog name.
Last 2021, at the age of 23, I was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. Somehow I emerged from that cataclysm more or less intact, armed with the searing realization that I really only wanted to do two things with my life: to write, and to be a scientist.
Thankfully, these are two dreams that often overlap, and even enhance each other. In this blog you’ll find me writing about anything that interests me: book reviews, my studies, the work of other people I encounter in the field and at the lab, my dogs, my (horrible) food, funny clouds, cloud rats, lichens that live in rocks and other strange places. I just want to practice writing, and writing often.
This isn’t a cancer blog. I find that important to say. I will write about my disease, its aftereffects, and the consequences of facing it. But that isn’t my focus here. To any fellow survivors who are reading this, whether you’re someone actively receiving treatment or someone who has put that experience far behind them, I hope you will take my decision to let my disease be a part of me, but not define me, as an encouraging sign that there are many ways to overcome our common illness.
I publish regular essays every month. I may sprinkle additional posts here and there, but once a month’s the promise.
In any case, since you’ve bothered reading this far, thank you and please subscribe. With all the clutter and chaos in my brain, I’m sure you’ll eventually find something to your liking.
