Dr. Jonathan Bleeker; a Dordt College Alumni, recently visited his alma mater to share about his life and career. He mentioned that it was not easy, but definitely worth it. He earned his undergrad at Dordt, went to medical school at The University of Iowa, and then received his residency at The University of Virginia. Lastly, Bleeker went to The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he specialized in cancer. Dr. Bleeker stated that he was at first intimated competing against other students from Ivy League schools, but that Dordt prepared him very well. He also said that he enjoyed working with patients a lot more than just clinical studies/research. After 11 years of schooling, Bleeker finally was licensed to both diagnose and treat Cancer. During…show more content… Bleeker said in his presentation was, “Cancer is NOT a disease.” He explained that cancer is caused by gene mutation, which causes uncontrolled cell growth. Cancer is not contagious, but can be very deadly. An individual can receive cancer for several reason: environmental factors, genetic predisposition, and sporadic mutation. In today’s world, science is coming out every day with new environmental causes of cancer. Dr. Bleeker said that keeping up with the science is one of the hard aspect of his job. Factors such as toxic airs, radiation, and harmful lifestyles cause cancer. People that smoke, drink and do not exercise are more at risk to develop cancer. Even though an individual has a healthy life style, doesn’t mean he/she will not develop cancer. Cancer can be inherited. The last and most common cause of cancer is sporadic mutation. Scientist still do not know why this occurs. Individuals that do not have any family record of cancer, live a healthy lifestyle, but still develop cancer fall under the category of sporadic reasoning. Another challenge Dr. Bleeker faces is informing the patients and their families about cancer and even worse when the cancer comes back after successfully taken out of a patient. He said he is “blessed” to deal with patients, but also gets “emotionally involved” with them. He tries his best to help his patients with what he can, but if the problem is out of his reach, he searches for help. He said that help would