A day after this website went live (second time) I had a meeting with my colleague to discuss the next stages for A-LEAF. This website/blog(s) is the launching site for A-LEAF- as well as my personal blog site. My colleague’s reaction was:

I like the website/blog, however, I did not get the ‘person’ vs human, philosophy on the landing page (paraphrased).

Matheson, 2022

After considering my colleague’s intervention I have concluded that there is a requirement for additional clarification on “person” vs human. Homing in on how I see ‘person’ as my identity and human as the physical body. Is any of this making sense? No? okay, let us try a different approach.

Objectively- what can be proven without a doubt. I am the child (human) that was diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma aged four. However, my lived experiences of growing up with the long-term side effects and the barriers to society the Medulloblastoma caused has shaped the ‘person’ I am today. To be clear what am saying is if it was not for the Medulloblastoma I would not have volunteered with Macmillan Glasgow Libraries in 2010.

I never would become involved with Cancer Support Scotland‘s child charity Youth Cancer Forum Scotland, I never would have taken an interest in charity law. More importantly, I never would have become a member of Health & Social care Alliance Scotland, Inclusion Scotland, Glasgow Disability Alliance, however, the utmost important connection to the Medulloblastoma childhood diagnosis which lead to volunteering with MacMillian; I would not have completed my MSc in social innovation and I would not be in a position to start a social enterprise today.

so let us consider the question again.

what makes a person the same person despite changes over time?

WARBURTON, 2011

A Medulloblastoma childhood diagnosis makes me the same person over time. I never did get that. I have Dr. Anne Smith for the enlightenment. I thanked Anne for providing me with this insight in my acknowledgments to my dissertation. My thanks are, now on record for the world to see.

Now I know I am the same ‘person’ today. As I was when I was four. The question remains if it was not for social norms and medical models. would I be the same ‘person’ today as I was when I was four? After all, no one in Locke’s time was living thirty-four years after a Medulloblastoma childhood diagnosis.

One last thought. A Ph.D. student once asked me:

“Does studying Social Innovation make you want to start a social enterprise”

Ph.D student, 2020

No, it is not the MSc in Social innovation that makes me want to start A-LEAF. it is the answer to the question:

would removing the inequalities social norms and medical models, result in me becoming a different person from the four-year-old me?

No, It is too late for me! The four-year-old I was in 1987 is the same ‘person’ I am today. The question remains if it was not for social norms and medical models. would I be the same ‘person’ today as I was when I was four?

The answer to this question is important for all childhood cancer patients today.