Ani Haykuni, an Armenian national with a background in Environmental Sciences and Organisational Management, had a passion for entrepreneurship that led her to apply to the Oxford Saïd MBA. Having cleared the admission process, another hurdle appeared. She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that required immediate treatment.
A post about Haykuni in the Oxford MBA blog quotes her as saying that when the diagnosis came, she asked the doctors just two questions. “What are my chances of survival? Secondly, can you treat me within two months? Because I have to go to Oxford.”
However, she and her family confronted the challenge by staying positive. “We did not cry, and none of us felt scared, which was amazing. I have always enjoyed solving problems, and I have viewed cancer as just another problem to be solved,” she says.
She found that people were often unwilling to talk about the disease and with several negative stereotypes about cancer, they felt scared. “These reactions often make cancer patients feel ashamed, and I believe this can adversely affect their treatment. My story has helped to combat these stereotypes, and so more Armenians are now talking openly about their battle,”
Having managed to get her place at Oxford deferred by one year, she made preparations for the treatment. While she faced huge medical costs in Armenia which has limited facilities for treatment, her friends pitched in to start a fundraising page and soon, the campaign went national.
Haykuni was approached by Armenian TV channels and other news organisations who wanted to share her story with the country. ‘It was the first time cancer had been discussed at that level, and I received hundreds of emails and letters from people in similar situations. It was as if my battle was their battle – we were fighting cancer together,’ she says.
She found that people were often unwilling to talk about the disease and with several negative stereotypes about cancer, they felt scared. “These reactions often make cancer patients feel ashamed, and I believe this can adversely affect their treatment. My story has helped to combat these stereotypes, and so more Armenians are now talking openly about their battle,” she adds.
It was this realisation that she had helped to change lives that led her to set up the Ani Haykuni Cancer Treatment Support Foundation. It provides financial and psychological support for cancer patients in Armenia.
For her MBA entrepreneurship project at Oxford Haykuni, along with four other students worked for the Foundation and were successful in framing the financial and marketing strategies. “The MBA program also gave me the opportunity to present the foundation to international organisations in the UK and US,” she says.
When she began her MBA, Ani was still undergoing intensive treatment and would often find herself running from lectures to doctors’ appointments. “The School helped by recording some lectures for me when there was a chance I might have to miss them, so I could catch up in the evenings. They have been really supportive of me throughout this time,” she says.
On her experiences, Ani says she had ‘never felt a moment of unhappiness’ during her treatment. “But the way I approach life has changed…I always look for the best in people, and I understand that it is very important to let negative things go. What matters is how you live, and I am so grateful that I have been given a second chance to help people in the future.”
Following her MBA, Ani plans to build upon her passion for innovation using the tools and knowledge she has gained during the program. “I was really inspired by the impact investment module, and I hope to work within that field. However, for me it is not just about the career, it is this question: are you going to make a positive difference to people’s lives, or not? Whatever I do, I want to be a change maker.”