Profound Light by Jacob Mundy

Overcoming Childhood and Adolescent Trauma

Author Jacob Mundy never wanted to write this book. He never wished for there to be readers of it. But childhood and/or adolescent trauma is tragically a part of many people’s lives. If it is a part of yours, or someone you love, you may find guidance—and hope—in Mundy’s story.

Profound Light: Overcoming Childhood and Adolescent Trauma shares the many severe battles that Mundy survived. More than offering a perspective that will resonate with other survivors of trauma, Profound Light also shares heart-touching lessons of hope, self-resilience and self-rediscovery. Within these pages is not just shared sadness but guidance through to light that is embedded in every individual.

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Excerpt from Profound Light © Copyright 2024 Jacob Mundy

Prologue

I could feel a funnel of emotions go through my body as my mother and me got off the United Airlines plane at the Memphis International Airport. I was arriving for my yearly checkup for my childhood cancer battle at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Almost every emotion from happiness, excitement, nervousness, and more filled my airway as we walked to the baggage claim area to meet with a St. Jude shuttle bus driver. They would take us to a hotel close to the St. Jude Hospital. This June 2019 visit would be different than my previous checkups, as it would be my final year of regular doctor visits. After this year, I would return to Memphis solely every five years for my St. Jude life study checkups through the St. Jude life study program; a program to study the late effects of treatment while still ensuring the survivor participants that no signs of cancer were found.

I could not be prouder of myself, for I had hopefully reached the ten-year remission mark of not having Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma that year. What I had overcome throughout my life and how I reached my own profound triumph was another unique story in an enormous amount of miracle stories around the world. All were not just related to the St. Jude Hospital. I was happy and excited to return to the place I have always considered a second home since the conclusion of my cancer battles. More importantly, I could not be more excited to once again see the St. Jude Hospital that impacted my life through my childhood cancer battles while seeing some of the staff members that helped me beat cancer. I could not deny though how nervous I became before my first day of appointments over one question. The question being, would I reach the top and be able to go home with the news that no signs of cancerous tumors were found during my checkup?

I had faced so much misfortune, adversity, and uncertainty throughout my childhood and adolescent years. So, I could not help but wonder about that question. My mother has always told me, “Life is a rollercoaster; you will have your ups and downs.” I cannot deny my mother is not wrong on what she meant through the statement. Still, I wanted my happy ending, and I wanted to find the remaining peace I had found through healing from my trauma. During my childhood and adolescent years, I faced the unbelievable with my two cancer battles. I had endured so many more traumatic battles but fought with every instinct in my body to overcome those barriers.

A few days went by, and it was time for my last appointment before my mother and I headed back home; my dad, who had driven down to be there for me, also headed back home. The last appointment would be simple, as it was basically a regular meeting between us and my life study team to go over the results of the testing. The testing came back all clear, and I was officially a person that was in remission from a life-threatening disease for ten years. The hope, self-resilience, and many other themes I carried with me throughout my traumatic battles of my youth and adolescent years had remained with me.

From that day on, I knew that my journey of healing from the trauma I endured was complete. The Jacob who had gone down a road of destruction through the turmoil of his trauma many years ago was a memory of the past. I gave into the darkness years ago when I found myself breaking down mentally after years of physical and mental battles. I had turned to worse ways to cope with the emotional pain. The weight of enduring the trauma after so long turned into a battle for control over my thoughts and an ultimate struggle to lift me back up from the ground. Nevertheless, now being a cancer survivor and ten years in remission, I reached the top of the mountain and crafted my own extraordinary destiny. I accomplished the nearly impossible tasks of having finished the journey of healing from the trauma I went through all those years.