The Inspiring Cancer Survivor Behind the Meth Curry Meme

This is why it’s not okay to make people into memes. (Photo: Instagram/mr_knoe)

Dear Internet: Let’s make a resolution for 2016, ok? This year, let’s stop – no really, it’s time to stop – making fun of people based on their appearances.

Case in point: The story of Leon Mitchell, the entrepreneur and cancer survivor who found himself the subject of a meme in which his picture appeared with the name “Meth Curry.” As in what the people on the internet imagined basketball superstar Stephen Curry might look like if he were a meth addict.

(Photo: Instagram/mr_knoe)

As is so often – always – the case, there is a lot more to Mitchell’s appearance than meets the eye. In 2005, at the age of 20, Mitchell was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer, a form of cancer that start at the upper part of the throat behind the nose and near the base of the skull, reports Q13 Fox News in Seattle. While Mitchell survived cancer, it took years and years for his body to rebound from the physical effects of the disease that almost took his life.

When Mitchell became aware of the vicious meme of his likeness circulating online, he took to Instagram to address the issue head-on.

“The fact that the meme was posted was a reminder of how distasteful and cruel people can be without background knowledge of the person in the bullseye [sic] of the target. I’ve struggled deeply for years with the devastating effects cancer treatment plagued my body with. The massive destruction it took on my neck, shoulders, nose, throat and ability to function normally. I thought have overcome all of those things and become so much stronger than the after effects of cancer treatment, and proudly bare myrself and ravaged appearance to the world with KNOE shame!!”

Mitchell founded his company KNOE Clothing as a result of his life-altering experiences with cancer. Though his treatments had left him 50 lbs lighter and, at one point, unable to speak or eat and with a feeding tube in place, his wife told him, “I don’t feel sorry for you. I feel bad that you’re ill and in pain, but I don’t feel sorry for you because you’re still alive and you are choosing to give up and not live.” From that conversation, Mitchell and his wife developed their own personal mantra – Knot Now Or Ever (KNOE) – a daily reminder that he would not allow his cancer to dictate his life choices. (Mitchell added a “K” to “not” in homage to his cancer survivor ribbon’s shape.) KNOE Clothing is about celebrating and spreading positivity and life-affirming values.

“When I first saw the meme I was confused as how the picture made its way onto the internet in the first place. Then there was feeling of embarrassment, and little bit of hurt feelings,” Mitchells tells Yahoo Health. “At that point I felt it necessary to address the post but do so with a positive spin and with no animosity or ill words for whomever posted it. But I felt that it needed to be addressed to not only stop the negative back lash that was heading my way to take a stand for cyber bullying. I wasn’t about to walk around my hometown being looked at and chastised for something placed onto the Internet.”

And yet, he says, he is grateful for the outpouring of support he has received since he posted his Instagram response.

“The love shown country-wide has been mind blowing and absolutely overwhelming. It is amazing to see so many people come together in one for a positive reason,” he notes.

So there you have it, Internet. Be nice. Remember that behind every picture is a person, and behind every person is a story. And no meme can ever narrate another person’s experience – so let’s leave it to each individual to do that for themselves, in their own words.

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