LEWISTON, Maine — Emily Scarrow moved from the Washington D.C. area to Lewiston three years ago and was beginning to get acclimated to Bates College. But her freshman-year experience changed drastically just six weeks later when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's' lymphoma at nearby Central Maine Medical Center.
"You get diagnosed, and you try to start treatment as fast as possible to prevent progression," she said. "There isn't much time to process what's happening because you're thrown into the action of it all—of preparing for your treatments, going to them, dealing with the side effects of that."
Scarrow, who is now a senior at Bates, became cancer-free a few years later, but that's when she said she started to process what had happened in her life. She admitted that was a hard part of her journey, something people may not know.
Now, Scarrow volunteers at the Dempsey Center as a wig and headwear consultant.
"I think it's really important for someone who understands the gravity of those situations helping out, because I've had some really wonderful and emotional experiences helping people find wigs," she explained. "And you can just totally see the look in their eyes. They put on one that reminds them of who they feel like they are on the inside, and it's just very special."
Scarrow said she likes volunteering at the Dempsey Center because she can assist people in multiple ways, and she appreciates the center's mission.
"The work [the center does] isn't necessarily medically focused. It's about quality of life and ways to improve really rough treatment cycles," she explained. "I really like being able to be involved in that."
A big part of processing her own battle and treatment, Scarrow said, was readjusting to college life and all the social factors that come along with it. Having conversations with friends and classmates was an adjustment early on, but Scarrow developed a passion for talking about her experience as a way to help others.
"I get so much out of the volunteering, even from the other side of it, that it almost feels it's a service in itself," Scarrow said. "Because every time I'm meeting with someone it's a new conversation with someone who's dealt with something similar, so, in its [own] way, it's very helpful for me as well."
Besides balancing classwork, applying for jobs, and volunteering at the Dempsey Center, Scarrow is also a licensed EMT for Bates. She'll be at Saturday's Dempsey Challenge working with the medical team.