Larkin Coker

Earrings are Larkin’s way of expressing her creativity, personality, and style. With 19 ear piercings, the high school junior has a lot to work with.

But 10 years ago, earrings meant something a little different.

“I was getting chemotherapy and totally bald,” Larkin said. “Wearing a wig just wasn’t me. So, big earrings were my thing. I had this one huge pair with rainbow-colored gummy bears. The nurses loved them.”

Special Connections with the Nursing Team

Larkin was only six when she and her family learned she had anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I don’t remember a lot of what happened during treatment,” Larkin said. “Just little bits and pieces of things.”

The bonds she formed with nurses stand out the most.

“I remember one time my favorite nurse came in and painted my nails for me,” she said. “I think it was her way of showing me that even without hair, I was still girly me.”

Like Seeing Old Friends

Ten years later, Larkin is still cancer free, but she returns to WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s for follow-up appointments and ongoing care. She sees providers at the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program at the WVU Cancer Institute in Morgantown.

“Children’s is like a second home because of the amazing staff that they have there,” she said. “It’s always very homey. Kind of like a reunion!”

From Patient to Advocate

As she has gotten older, Larkin has started thinking more about what it means to survive childhood cancer. She knows many children still face uncertain futures after treatment ends.

In recent years, she’s traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak with lawmakers about pediatric cancer funding and research. The trips are sponsored by a national organization called the Alliance for Childhood Cancer. During those visits, she shares her own experience with cancer and survivorship.

Those experiences shaped how Larkin thinks about her own future. While she has not yet decided on a career path, she has considered working in healthcare one day.

“I feel like since I received such great care, I would be able to give that back to somebody else too,” she said.

Looking back, Larkin said the experience with cancer almost feels like something that happened to someone else. So much time has passed that many memories now come through photos and stories from her family rather than firsthand recollection.

Still, she understands how much those years shaped her life.

“I have definitely had some holy cow moments,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll see pictures of myself during treatment that I don’t remember at all and think, ‘Whoa. I really went through that.’”