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By Ryan Ball

When Ali Djowharzadeh was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, he was told by three different surgeons that there was nothing they could do. They all advised him to get his affairs in order because the best he could expect was four more months on this planet. That was seven years ago. 

Thanks to a fourth opinion and cutting-edge treatments at the USC Norris Cancer Hospital, Djowharzadeh was among 600 cancer survivors celebrating the 22^nd Annual Festival of Life. The event took place June 2 on the Harry and Celesta Pappas Quad on the USC Health Sciences campus in honor of National Cancer Survivors Day.

Invited to speak before the assembled crowd, Djowharzadeh, now cancer-free, shared what he learned from his battle with cancer, and how he took the Trojan mantra “fight on” to heart. “We must celebrate and live in the present moment,” he said. “We must stand up and fight for our lives.”

Djowharzadeh’s wife, Raz, was there to celebrate with her husband. “It’s a reminder for us, of what we’ve gone through and to be thankful for him being alive today,” she remarked. “We had a great team of doctors who are the best in the country, and we’re thankful for having a facility where we were able to get everything done in one place. That was crucial to his treatment.”

Naomi Morales, who was admitted to Norris with stage-four ovarian cancer seven years ago and now serves as a volunteer there, was asked to share her inspirational story as well.

"I asked God to please allow me more time so I could give back to this hospital that gave me so much,” said Morales. “We all have a purpose here on Earth, just believe. The sun will always rise again. It did for me.”

Attendees also heard from Annette Sy, associate administrator/interim chief nursing officer for the Keck Medical Center of USC, on the challenges and rewards of oncology nursing. 

Providing the physician’s perspective was USC urologist Matthew Dunn, who diagnosed his own father with prostate cancer four years ago and was part of the team at Norris that got him cancer-free. He said he’s inspired by the special relationship he’s able to forge with each and every patient, and would never want to be part of a patient mill, which he believes many hospitals are becoming as they base their success on the number of people they treat. 

For the past ten years, the Festival of Life has been organized by Alicia Syres, director of volunteer services at Norris. She said it’s gratifying to see more people coming back each year because more people are surviving, and that the event is an example of how the staff at Norris works hard to cultivate a sense of family for patients.

“It’s fun to watch people reconnect with the staff who are here,” Syres said. “It’s like coming home, coming to see old friends.”

USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center board member and former Today Show medical expert Art Ulene returned to emcee the festival. A cancer survivor himself, Ulene has been part of the Festival of Life from the beginning and noted that today there’s more reason to rejoice now that cancer, for many people, isn’t the death sentence it was twenty two years ago. 

“We celebrate each year to acknowledge the people who made this possible, to acknowledge our own strengths, and to acknowledge and express gratitude to the people who supported us through this,” Ulene explained.  “But we celebrate also to let those who come later know that there is life after cancer, meaningful, productive life.”