In September 2017, I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which is Cancer that starts in the Lymphatic System. After my oncologist went over my treatment protocol, which included 6 months of ABVD chemotherapy treatments, one of the side effects of the regimen included hair loss. Knowing I would most likely lose all my hair, I decided to cut it shorter and shorter, until I decided to shave it off. 

I began documenting this journey through a series of self-portraits, shot on Kodak Portra 400 film. One of my favorite things about film, is its graceful imperfections, it was a representation of how I felt at the time.

The series began early November 2017 (photo 1) when I cut my hair from shoulder-length to that and had my Biopsy which confirmed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. A month later, I cut it even shorter (photo 2), that’s when my port-a-cath was freshly put in. The last photo was when I shaved my head on Christmas morning, one week before beginning chemotherapy

“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”

― Carlos Castaneda