Asking for Help Is a Form of Strength

When Blas was first diagnosed with oral cancer in 2022, he approached it with determination.

“I’m gonna beat this thing. I’m gonna win,” he remembers thinking.

He went through surgery to remove part of his tongue, followed by 30 rounds of radiation. He entered treatment with a positive attitude, but the physical and emotional impact became much harder than he had expected.

Radiation affected his ability to eat, swallow and taste. Eventually, he needed a feeding tube because he could no longer eat through his mouth.

“I wasn’t prepared for all that,” he says.

When positivity was no longer enough

Blas continued through treatment, but the period near the end of radiation and immediately afterward became especially difficult.

He describes the week after treatment as the hardest point for him mentally. It was the only time that year when he felt like he might not make it.

When someone is that far down, he explains, it can become difficult to imagine feeling better again.

Blas had a strong support group around him. He also sought medication during that period. Looking back, he says people should not be afraid to ask for help, whether that means speaking with someone, receiving counselling or discussing medication with a professional.

“Sometimes you need to ask for help,” he says.

With time and support, Blas recovered. He was able to eat, swallow and chew again, and eventually felt physically better than he had in the years before his diagnosis.

Facing cancer again

Blas continued to receive clean scans until January 2026, when doctors found another growth under his tongue.

This time, it grew quickly and required another period of surgery and treatment. Blas is careful not to describe the second experience as easy. But having already been through cancer treatment once, he felt more prepared for what recovery and radiation could involve.

He compares the process to moving through a hurricane.

Surgery and chemotherapy form the first part of the storm. There can then be a period of relative calm before radiation and further treatment bring another difficult phase.

Knowing that this phase was approaching helped Blas communicate more clearly with the people around him.

He told his partner that he might need help making sure he received enough nutrition or getting to radiation appointments.

This did not remove the difficulty of treatment. It allowed Blas to be more open about what he might need.

Letting people support you

Blas’s experience changed how he thinks about strength.

During his first experience with cancer, he began with the belief that staying positive would help carry him through. Positivity remained important to him, but he also learned that there may be times when encouragement alone is not enough.

People may need emotional support, practical help, counselling, medication or simply a person willing to listen.

“Don’t be afraid to ask your doctors for help,” he says. “Ask the people around you for help.”

He also encourages people to speak with a therapist when they need to.

“Just being able to talk about it helps out a lot,” he says.

For Blas, asking for help does not mean giving up. It means recognizing what the experience is asking of you and allowing other people to help carry part of that weight.

Offering that support to someone else

Even while continuing through his own treatment, Blas thinks about other people who may be facing something similar.

He says that anyone with the same type of cancer, or anyone who simply needs to talk, can reach out to him. He would be willing to share what he can from his own experience.

“We all need each other,” he says.

Strength can look like continuing through treatment. It can look like preparing for what is coming. It can also look like telling someone you need help.

And sometimes, after receiving that support yourself, strength can mean being willing to offer it to the next person.