Mercy Haub’s story continues to inspire

For most people, being on the news is something they can only dream of. Maybe they’ve had a brief appearance on television due to being at the right place at the right time, but most likely, they’ve just watched Hollywood stars be interviewed and wondered what they would do if that were them.

For Mercy Haub, junior, being on the news became a sudden new reality this year. 

After going through the difficult process of receiving a cancer diagnosis, beginning chemotherapy, and eventually beating the disease, Haub has spent her first few months in remission busy with interviews and news appearances.

Haub has been on 10 different news programs since March. Her most notable appearance was on The Ellen Show, but she’s also been on programs such as NBC Nightly News and The Today Show, as well as local news stations King 5 and Kiro 7. 

Haub’s notoriety began with a video of the parade that was thrown for her on her last day of chemo. She decided to send this video to the Instagram account Good News Movement.

 Haub said she sent it in on a whim, not expecting anything to come of it. “I was so shocked, but I didn’t think very many people would see it. Turns out they ran a Twitter account too and over half a million people saw it there,” Haub said.

After her story was seen by so many, Haub began to get more requests from programs wanting to share her story. Shortly after the video was posted on Good News Movement, Haub received a message from Seattle Children’s Hospital asking to feature her story. 

She also got a message from an employee for The Ellen Show who asked if Haub was interested in appearing on the show. “For Ellen and the media in general, there was this race to see who could break the story first,” Haub said.

Haub said the interviews are a strange mix of being this extraordinary experience while also being quite stressful and exhausting. Overall, however, she’s glad for this opportunity to share her story and inspire others, and she thinks it’s given her a lot of good energy that she’s needed during recovery.

“It really is an incredible feeling,” Haub said, knowing that her story has touched the hearts of so many. While she has some insecurities about this level of notability, Haub says she’s honored to be able to inspire others. 

“My most sincere wish is that this gives people hope and inspires them to work towards what they believe in and believe in themselves that they can make actual, tangible, amazing change when they work hard for it,” Haub said. 

Her time in the spotlight is wrapping up as Haub moves her focus towards other parts of recovery and returning to normal life. She says that she’ll likely be done with interviews after the next two or three. 

“I just hope that if more interviews do occur that they are highlighting all of the other wonderful organizations and people that intersect with my story and that I am only there to illustrate their awesomeness,” Haub said. 

While Haub is grateful to get away from the exhaustion and stress of interviews, she’s glad for the way the interviews ended her horrible cancer journey on such a high note. Haub also hopes that having her story out there in the world will continue to motivate people to work towards their passion and strive for excellence. 

Regardless of what happens with her interviews, one thing is certain: Haub will forever remember these incredible opportunities; “I think in general it was a strange, unexpected, yet amazing ending to such a difficult journey.”