In early 2024, Nevin Shoker felt as healthy as ever as he was pursuing a career in media production in Los Angeles. Then, two weeks after his 28th birthday in June, he developed a bad cough that lasted days. After his doctors told him that it was probably asthma, his skin started itching. Another doctor’s visit pointed to possible eczema. After being prescribed skin creams, sweats and daily fatigue took a toll. A bump under his neck was the final red flag.

“At our age, you don’t think serious health issues can happen. You feel bulletproof,” Shoker said. “But after all these visits to the doctors and them sort of dismissing my concerns, those worries that grew on me just motivated me to keep searching for answers to figure out what was wrong with me, because it was clear that something wasn’t right.”

What was wrong was that Shoker had cancer. After all his visits with his doctors, it took just one visit to urgent care at Mercy West in Turlock for the alarm to be sounded.

“I told Dr. Lucas about the lump on my neck and my symptoms, and I'll never forget what he said. He goes: ‘Wait a minute. Can I bring my assistant in here? Can we make this a teaching moment?’ And I'm like, if I have something that's a teaching moment, that’s pretty scary.”

The team lifted Shoker’s left armpit and found another lump that had gone unnoticed up to that point. Shoker was told that it was probably Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and was sent to the emergency room immediately.

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a cancer that impacts a body's immune system and limits the ability to fight infections. A symptom of the disease is that lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, or groin swell, which causes the fatigue and fevers that Shoker experienced.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 8,720 people in the United States are diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma each year, mostly young adults.

At the emergency room at Doctor’s Medical Center, he underwent rounds of testing, and a biopsy that took place weeks later determined that his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was Stage 4, which meant the cancer had spread from one organ or tissue to another. “In my case, it had spread from my lymph nodes to my blood, so it was just everywhere, which is a pretty scary thing to think about,” Shoker said.

Amid the uncertainty within himself, Shoker decided to find solace in others, far and wide.

Shoker, who grew up in Ceres, graduated from Stanislaus State in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies with an emphasis in mass media. Already with a modest following on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok from his work in the music industry, he began documenting his battle with cancer. 

Videos that have gone viral on his accounts — both @ibeshocker — are of him meeting with doctors, undergoing tests, each of his 12 rounds of chemotherapy, and even him going to Barber Club in Downtown Turlock to buzz the rest of his hair off, which he had been losing at a rapid pace after the first couple rounds of chemo. He also has several videos discussing the mental, physical and financial toll that battling cancer can have on an individual and families.

“I saw this as a chance to really show people a day in the life of someone fighting cancer, how crazy this disease is on your physical and mental health, and all of the daily things that come with it,” Shoker explained.  “What does it actually look like every single day to be a cancer patient going through chemo? What do your doctor's appointments look like? Who are the people that you interact with every day? I feel like a lot of people know the word ‘cancer,’ but a lot of people don't necessarily understand what that looks like or feels like unless they've gone through it or they have a loved one they've gone through it. 

“​​I made these videos, not just for sharing with the world, but also for myself, to document my own journey so that I can look back at this.”

On TikTok alone, Shaker has nearly 43,000 followers and 7 million views with 4.1 million likes.

On June 10, three days before his 29th birthday, Shoker rang the bell marking the end of chemotherapy at Cancer Center at Dignity Health - Mercy Medical Center in Merced.

“I never expected it to blow up the way that it did,” Shoker said. “I've been super grateful, as well, to see the impact my journey has had on other people, people from all walks of life. I have people from South Africa, Dubai, over the United States that either leave comments, DM me, it’s just crazy.”

“I had a kid, like 17 years old, message me on Instagram… He said, ‘I've been watching your journey since your first video, I just found out I got diagnosed with leukemia. I'm starting my first chemo next week. Is there any advice you can give me?’ And I just thought that was insane, man. Never would I have thought that people would be coming out and reaching out to me to help them through something like cancer  that they're going through. But that’s the power that the internet has, to unite these people together and create supportive communities.”

Shoker would be the first to say he doesn’t have all the answers, though. In fact, as he awaits word on whether he is in remission or not, questions remain swirling in his mind. 

One of those is whether or not he needed all 12 rounds of chemotherapy. And whether or not those sessions worked to put him in remission. 

The predicament stems from insurance, as his provider did not approve a PET scan until just last week despite him and his doctors requesting approval months in advance.

“My insurance was not wanting to approve it for the longest time. My chemo regimen was supposed to be 12 rounds, so on round eight, we're supposed to get a PET scan to check how your body is reacting to the chemo, how it’s doing. Because we never got that approval, we had no choice but to keep going. We just had to assume the cancer was still there to be safe. 

“This PET scan will show if the chemo worked in these six months, and if it turns out good, then I’m in remission, where we’ll stop all medical care and see how my body responds.”

Those results are expected in about three months.

If the scans show that cancer is still in Shoker’s body, he’ll have to consider more chemotherapy or other treatments such as radiation or stem cell transplants.

“I feel optimistic,” he said. “The way I look at it is you can't stress out about things that are out of your control. All you can do is make do with the time that you have. If I spend my whole life worrying and being negative and then cancer comes back and I die from it, then it's like I spent my whole life killing myself with stress and anxiety instead of enjoying the time I did have. It puts things in a different perspective.”

Shoker is nowhere near alone in his journey with cancer. The estimated number of new cancer cases in the United States in 2025 alone is 2,041,910, according to the American Cancer Society. Nearly 200,000 of those cases are in California. 

While Shoker doesn’t have the answers to all his pressing questions, what he does want to offer are pieces of advice, especially to young people.

“Like I said before, getting told you have cancer at such a young age is such an eye-opener. I don’t know how this Lymphoma started in me, but even when we feel healthy, we have to take care of our bodies. And when we notice something isn’t right or out of the ordinary, we need to pay attention and take it seriously, even when doctors don’t want to take you seriously. You’ve gotta advocate for yourself. Be annoying if you have to. Aside from that, just stay optimistic. If our time is limited, make the most of it. I didn’t know — and I still don’t know — what my future holds. There were some days I felt like a zombie after chemo, and some weeks I felt better with those couple of days off.

“You never know how much of an impact you can have on other people, and in fighting cancer, I never knew how much one video or message could help somebody else. If I could help anyone, it’s worth it.”