Commack Teen Shares Cancer Battle on YouTube

“Hi, my name is Donna. I’m 16 and I was just diagnosed with cancer,” a youthful face with short brown hair said to a camera in October 2010. “Welcome to my channel.”  

That was the first video Commack resident Donna Coane posted to YouTube. From that point on, she would document the trials and triumphs of her journey, including more than a year of chemotherapy, losing her hair, having to walk with a cane and other physical and emotional tests. Now, more a year after her last chemotherapy treatment, Donna is in remission and continues to document her life, including her last chemotherapy treatment, going off to college and even becoming the survivorship chair at the Relay for Life event at SUNY New Paltz, where she is currently enjoying her freshman year.

Donna’s journey began during her junior year at Commack High School. Before classes began, Donna was enjoying her summer vacation in Florida about to go on a cruise, when she started to experience severe pain in her face. “I was crying from the pain,” she said.  However, she was told that her symptoms were likely just a sinus infection. When school started, she noticed her face start to bulge. Her family went for a second opinion. When the doctor saw her, she was told she needed to have a scan immediately. She was pulled out of class the next day.

“I remember my mom looking like she had been crying for hours,” Donna, whose mother is also a cancer survivor, said.

After several scans at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, they received the news: Donna had cancer. She was diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer that was located in her sinuses. It was a rare cancer and she would need multiple types of chemotherapy to beat it, but luckily, it was caught just in time to treat.  

The one thing Donna emphasizes most of all, is how supportive the people were around her during her journey. From friends and family, to nurses and strangers on YouTube, she said she felt positive energy all around her, even on days when she couldn’t get out of bed. Knowing the importance of support is part of the reason she began taping her journey.  

“Some people are kind of shy or they might feel awkward taping themselves. I’m just out there with a bald head talking to a computer,” she said with a laugh. “I’m not ashamed of being out there, fighting the fight.”  

While the teen kept a positive attitude throughout her treatment, it wasn’t always easy to keep a smile on. The treatments weakened Donna’s body, which forced her to walk with a cane and even undergo shock treatments to deal with the pain in her legs. There were weeks when she couldn’t talk or eat because of painful sores in her mouth and keeping food down while going through several forms of chemotherapy was a lost cause, she said.

When those bad days came though, her family, friends and YouTube community were there. “I like talking about my problems in order to work them though. I knew recording it would help me feel better. Knowing that I was helping others gave me something to do when I wasn’t able to do anything. And to hear back from people lifted my fears a bit,” she said.  

There were good days too.  

During her journey, the Make-A-Wish Foundation sent Donna and her family on a trip to Italy. She strutted down the catwalk during a charity fashion show and thanks to her brother, got to go to Ponycon, a convention dedicated to her favorite childhood show, “My Little Pony.” Above all though, it was the little things that made her days easier, like her mom taking the time to watch movies with her each night, and crocheting stuffed animals for children in the hospital.  

“Happiness and laughter really is the best medicine,” she said.  

Now, one year after her last chemotherapy treatment, a lot has changed for Donna. For starters, she’s now a college student, studying art education and psychology. Her medications are down from 16 pills to three.

However, while she’s now cancer free, she still is in recovery mode, which means her college experience is a little different from that of her friends'.  

Due to a weakened immune system, she must live in a single dorm room so that there’s less of a chance of a roommate spreading an illness to her. She also has a note outside of her door asking anyone who comes in to wash their hands in case they’re carrying germs on them. She still has trouble with her legs and can only walk short distances without the pain kicking in. She crotched a cover for her cane to make it more stylish for walking around campus when needed. Her clothes also must be very loose fitting since her nervous system is very sensitive. “I go through 10 outfits in the morning because I can’t find anything,” she said.  

Another side effect of the treatment is what she calls “chemo-brain,” in which she tends to forget little things, but in her typical good spirit, she mostly laughs it off and is granted extra time on her exams to help her work through it.  

Despite taking those precautions, Donna lives as a typical college student. She even works part-time at her school’s disability center.  

While cancer-free now, she continues to update her YouTube channel.   “I’ve gotten messages from that channel from people saying, “Oh my God. Thanks so much. It helped me so much to know what’s ahead’ and things like that.”  

She’s even made new friends from YouTube including other cancer patients. She also said her former nurses watch her channel, to keep up with how she’s doing. “It’s helped me a lot,” she said.

For other young people going through cancer, she offered the following advice:

“Try to do stuff that makes you feel good on days you feel good. On days you don’t feel good, rest,” she said. “Surround yourself with positive people. That’s really important. People that I knew that could not feel happy with their treatments, their treatments did not end up well.”  

She also said to find someone going through a similar situation to talk to. “It really helps you get past the bad,” she said.  

Donna will be speaking at her college’s Relay for Life event next month, where she will stand in front of her peers to tell her story and offer encouragement.

To check out Donna’s YouTube channel, click here.