Allison Ruddick

Shortly after being diagnosed with stage III colorectal cancer in 2014 at age 31, Allison Ruddick started using #keepingcancerclassy on her cancer-related social media posts as a way to inject a small amount of humor into the situation, maintain some dignity while being poked and prodded on a regular basis, and keep some semblance of self when “cancer patient” threatened to takeover her identity. Two recurrences, two IV ports, 5.5 weeks of radiation, almost 20 rounds of chemo, two major surgeries and countless complications later (but who’s counting…), she’s writing about it all. Not because the world needs another cancer story, but because she believes the world needs to see cancer in the context of life, complete with the side effects the doctors don’t tell you much about.