Providence, R.I.--After facing two separate diagnoses of leukemia before graduating high school, every day was an uncertainty for Patrick A. Lynch '03.

Six years after earning his degree from Providence College, a cancer-free Lynch returned to his alma mater to share with current students his reflections on life's unexpected challenges and rewards.

Sponsored by the Board of Programmers, the Office of Alumni Relations, Colleges Against Cancer, and Simply Healthy, "My Life as a PC Friar" was held on October 6 in McPhail's. During his presentation, Lynch discussed his battle with cancer and how it shaped his perspective on life, as well as the special role PC has played in his journey.

"When something means so much to you that it becomes a part of who you are, how do you develop words to express that?" he said. "That's how I feel about Providence College."

Lynch said he was a typical 15-year-old at Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, R.I., when he suddenly developed a series of startling symptoms that were originally diagnosed as mononucleosis. It quickly became apparent, however, that something far more serious was happening to his body.

Not surprisingly, Lynch was stunned when doctors told him he had leukemia.

"All I could hear was the word 'cancer,'" he said. "At that point, I had two choices: I could either give in or take control of the situation."

Lynch chose the latter option and endured a grueling regimen of chemotherapy and multiple surgeries that forced him to repeat his sophomore year but seemed to effectively treat the disease. He re-immersed himself in school activities, found a new circle of friends, and appeared well on his way to leaving the agonizing experience in the past.

A second jolt
Then, two weeks before Christmas during his senior year at Hendricken, Lynch went in for a routine checkup and received some devastating news: his leukemia had returned, and the outlook was grimmer than ever.

"I had trouble seeing the 'providence' in all that until years later," he said. "Everything I thought I had figured out was being tested. Everything I thought I knew about myself, about God, about life was being questioned all over again."

Because chemotherapy had not been enough to defeat the cancer the first time, Lynch required a complete bone marrow transplant. Since he had been adopted as a baby, finding a suitable donor would not be easy. Within a few months, however, Lynch traveled to Seattle and underwent a successful transplant. He has been cancer-free since this last occurrence.

New challenges, new opportunities
After his health stabilized, Lynch was faced with the new challenge of somehow resuming a normal life. Although he was initially reluctant to remain close to home for college, he ultimately ended up enrolling at PC--where his father, Thomas, graduated in the Class of 1968--and he has never regretted the decision.

"What I've learned about life is that some of the best things that happen to you, some of the best gifts you receive, are the ones that are unexpected," Lynch said. "Providence College was the first time that happened to me."

Lynch declared as a philosophy major--a natural choice for someone who had spent the last couple years asking, "why?" he quipped--and quickly became involved in a variety of campus activities including Student Congress, Friars Club, WDOM, Junior Ring Weekend, Urban Action, and Habitat for Humanity.

Lynch, who said he struggled to overcome the perception of being the "cancer kid," emphasized the importance of finding one's true self amid the confusion of the undergraduate years.

"Life is about searching for that identity," he said. "Everything else that happens is irrelevant if you don't know who you are."

After graduating from PC, Lynch worked as a lobbyist and grassroots coordinator for the American Cancer Society and as an aide to former R.I. Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty '77. He currently is enrolled at the Suffolk University Law School and the Suffolk University Sawyer Business School and intends to receive his juris doctor and MBA degrees this December. He also recently completed an internship with the in-house legal counsel at Altran, an international innovation consulting firm, in Boston.

In addition, Lynch was elected to the PC National Alumni Association Board of Governors in 2009.

"Deep down inside, maybe even where you don't share with other people, you're always asking, 'What does it mean to be me?'" he said. "The answers don't come from what grad school you go to or what your GPA is. What matters is that you're paying attention to the question, that yearning inside of you."

- Joe Miller '10

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