Hello, thank you for visiting my portfolio website. I’m Josh Nelson, an Advertiser based in Cambridge, Ontario.
I’m a graduate of the Design Foundations and the Advertising and Marketing Communications programs at Conestoga College, and spent those years learning the many aspects of Advertising, Design and Marketing.
Besides being an Advertiser, Designer and Marketer, I am also a proud cancer survivor.
At the age of nine, I was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, and the surgery left me unable to walk, talk, or even lift my own head. I basically had to start from scratch. I went through 31 daily radiation treatments, 52 weeks of Chemotherapy and enough needles and test to last a lifetime. It has taken many years and countless hours of hard work and dedication to be able to do the things I am doing today.
Eleven years ago, when I found out about my cancer I vowed that I would do everything in my power to make sure that no child has to go though what I went through.
I have been a KidsAbility Ambassador, a spokesperson for Scotia Bank ‘kids can’t wait’ campaign and poster child for Scotia Bank McMaster ‘smiles’ campaign. I am a Coast to Coast Against Cancer Ambassador and in 2010 rode a tandem bike across Ontario. The following year I took it one step further and rode the same tandem bike across Canada from Vancouver to Halifax, and raised close to $85,000 for kids Cancer research. In 2012, I was honoured by Rick Hansen as a difference maker and proudly carried his medal right past the Cambridge City Hall building. I was also the recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee award for outstanding volunteer/humanitarian work. And to top off this already impressive list, I am an alumni of the 2013 Terry Fox Humanitarian Award.
I know first-hand how it feels to be a prisoner in the hospital and endure the surgeries and the endless needles and treatments. I know how it feels to lose my hair, throw up regularly and watch other kids around me earn their wings. I lost a part of my childhood that I will never get back. I know how it feels to look different, to be different. That’s something that I wouldn’t wish for any other kid to go through, and that is why I do what I do.
All of that passion, emotion and enthusiasm that I have for helping others I feel and express in all of my work.