Recovery Did Not End With Remission for a Leukemia Survivor

William Yank was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at 21 and has been in remission for six years as of February 2026. CURE previously shared how Yank is rebuilding the life cancer changed and how fellow patients helped him through treatment.

In this Q&A, Yank, who works full time and speaks professionally about his experience, discussed how his view of therapy changed, what helped him during treatment and why his family's honesty showed him there is still work to do.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

CURE: How can patients with cancer find mental health support if they are wary of therapy?

Yank: I would say I've become a proponent. I was someone that was probably against it previously, but that whole experience gave me an entirely different outlook on the importance of that, and the importance of it to maintain the other aspects of your health, because your mental health is going to directly impact your physical and the other spiritual aspects of your life.

There are cultures and people that are very against either mental health medication or the mental health help in general. Having the community was probably the second-best thing to the therapy itself. Do that if, for whatever reason, you just don't believe in therapy. Having people that you can go alongside with these challenging things and they can relate to you is so important.

What helps one get through leukemia treatment?

Some of the best things that I did practically was taking laps around our unit, trying to process the chemo and the treatments that I was receiving as quickly as I could through my body, not letting them sit or fester. This was something that my mom pushed me on. There were tons of days that I did not want to walk a foot. But my mom would pull me out of bed, and we'd do a few laps, even if it was just one, to get my body moving and the blood moving in my body.

I felt so lucky to be taken care of by the care team that I had, because they were incredible at keeping me optimistic and positive about what was happening. Seeing everybody show up and show out for me in a time that I needed them was reaffirming to my love and loyalty to all of them.

How did a leukemia diagnosis at 21 change William Yank's outlook on life?

I've been often given the feedback from family, friends and those that surround me that I seem to be or feel like an older soul now than I was before I was sick. I've just experienced a lot of things. [I] had to face life and death and mortality in a different way than I thought I would. I think it gives you some perspective and helps you mature really quickly.

Why does he continue to work on his mental health six years after leukemia?

I would say I'm still rebuilding. Not even a month or two ago, in a conversation on my parents' deck, they shared with me that I probably have a lot of mental health issues that I should still continue to work out. It was funny because I joked. I was like, "Are you guys just joking with me? I feel like I've been doing really fine." And they were like, "No, there's still stuff that you should check out."

That's a great mirror. I appreciate them sharing that with me, but that informs me then that there's still quite a bit to work on.

I'm interested to see where I'll be in another five years. I'm hopeful, and I'm excited, and clearly have an energy to get better and feel better. But I know that just takes as much time as my whole cancer journey took, which was two or three years of fighting constantly, so I can only imagine how this survivorship journey will go.

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