After a devastating diagnosis, dancer Oswald Peterson found his rhythm again — and a new reason to celebrate life
For lifelong dancer Oswald Peterson, every sunrise feels like choreography, a rhythm of gratitude and grace.
But when he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2017, he quickly learned that surviving can be its own kind of dance.
Oswald’s story reminds us how hope and science move together in step. November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month — a time to celebrate the breakthroughs in science and medicine that make stories of resilience, determination, and hope fact, not fiction.
A Devastating Diagnosis
Oswald just knew 2017 was going to be his. After several difficult years that brought the loss of his mother and his partner at the time, Oswald made a vow on New Year’s Eve of 2016 that the next year would be better.
However, as is often the case, life had other plans.
On the first day of 2017, Oswald woke up gasping for breath and in excruciating pain, barely able to walk across a room.
After being admitted to the hospital and undergoing a number of tests and scans, Oswald received a diagnosis he never expected: stage 4 lung cancer.
Oswald’s cancer was so advanced that chemotherapy or radiation could have killed him. Fluid surrounded his heart and lungs, and the cancer had spread throughout his lymph nodes and settled into the lower part of his spine.
The doctors and nurses treated his symptoms, doing what they could to keep him comfortable. His prognosis was more than grim.
Oswald pauses when he reflects on this time period, a somber reminder of the uncertainty he faced.
“Literally while I was lying in bed, I was kind of planning out my funeral,” he says. “Who would sing, what suit to bury me in.”
Just when the dance seemed over, hope returned with a new partner — immunotherapy — changing his routine entirely.
From Despair to Determination
While he was planning his funeral, Oswald’s doctors were choreographing his cure.
Oswald remembers the moment things started to change. “This amazing doctor walked into my room, and she started to talk about the word that would eventually change my life: immunotherapy.”
It wasn’t presented as a cure — just a chance at more time. But for Oswald, time was everything.
“When you’re on what appears to be your deathbed, you really start realizing the important things in life. And one of those things that you really start to value is time.”
He agreed to start immunotherapy that very day, if only for the hope of having more time.
“I was just so grateful to have the blessing of the opportunity to possibly have more time that it sparked the will to live in me again.”
His hope only grew. After only a few doses of the immunotherapy drug KeytrudaⓇ (pembrolizumab) and nearly three months in the hospital, Oswald’s healthcare team started talking about him going home.
“I was like oh, wow, okay. I guess things are moving in the right direction.”
The immunotherapy was so effective that even the accompanying symptoms of his cancer, the fluid surrounding his heart and lungs, disappeared.
His doctors were shocked.
By July of 2017, thanks to the incredible efforts of his doctors and immunotherapy, Oswald was completely cancer and disease free.
A New Beginning
Eight years later, Oswald is still dancing — a living testament to the power of hope, science, and spirit.
“Every morning I get to wake up is a day I was not supposed to have.”
He appreciates the simplicities of life more than ever now, even the unglamorous – “I work like everybody else!”, he says – but his journey taught him just how special the ‘ordinary’ things are.
“I enjoy getting up and going to work and seeing the sun. I really bask in the regular things.”
He has also taken this second chance at life as an opportunity to keep seeing the world and dancing through it.
An avid participant in the annual Trinidad Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, Oswald treats it as a celebration of his life.
“Carnival has really taken on new meaning for me because I was in the hospital during Carnival time. I remember thinking I had played my last one… but now I’ve gone from Carnival to cancer and back to Carnival.”
Oswald dancing again at the Trinidad Carnival, a living symbol of the power of immunotherapy.
Carried by a Village
Oswald’s story embodies the power of immunotherapy, giving him back a life he didn’t expect to have.
His recovery was fueled not just by medicine, but by the unwavering love of his village — friends who rotated through hospital shifts, ensuring he was never alone.
“They always made sure that there was somebody there with me,” Oswald reflects fondly. “And they really kept driving that home, so I had to keep my spirits up.”
Oswald’s village saw him through his recovery, too, taking care of him after he was out of the hospital. They cleaned; they took care of his food. In the midst of a harrowing journey and on the heels of devastating losses in the years prior, Oswald felt deeply cared for.
“It was really special to know that there are people in your life that appreciate you that way, that they step up when you truly need them.”
Their presence and the support of every person involved in his journey, showed him that healing happens in many forms.
His story is a reminder that no one fights cancer alone.
Words of Hope
New Year’s Day 2017 changed everything for Oswald.
Today, New Year’s Eve and Day feel just like any other day to him, because they all hold the value of a new beginning.
Oswald hopes that others facing the same challenging path will get to experience their own new beginnings, too.
“There are so many advances right now that nothing is impossible when it comes to cancer care. Don’t give up hope.”
From Carnival to cancer and back again, Oswald’s story reminds us that every ending can be a beginning.
