He walks alone in the middle of his cast and crew, turning from one actor to the next. He’s his usual animated self, flailing his arms around with a goofy smile on his face.

Director Jason Nellis. Perhaps the next Steven Spielberg? Or a future drama teacher?

“I realize it doesn’t matter what I do,” Nellis said. “I’m just happy to be alive.”

Nellis — after an eight-month battle — is finally cancer-free.

Last September doctors diagnosed him with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer affecting the lymphatic system. Just last week Nellis completed his final week of radiation treatment. Nellis took Fall Quarter off to start six months of chemotherapy at home in Maryland. He returned to campus Winter Quarter to finish chemotherapy and start radiation — all while taking three classes.

“I worked my ass off and I got back here,” Nellis said. “That’s the important thing.”

Nellis, a Communication sophomore, is busy these days directing “The Taming of the Shrew,” scheduled to be performed for free at The Rock, May 21-23. He spends about 15 hours a week on the play and as co-president of Lovers and Madmen, the NU theater group sponsoring the show.

“(The play) gave me something to look forward to,” he said. “When you’re home with nothing but sickness surrounding you, you grab onto whatever isn’t sickness and makes you happy.”

‘the single-most difficult thing’

But treatment wasn’t easy. Chemotherapy took its toll on Nellis’ body, sometimes confining him to his suite in Jones Residential College for five days afterward and forcing him to eat oatmeal, carrots and other “bland foods.”

“Chemo left me very nauseous,” Nellis said. “I can’t step into a doctor’s office without feeling nauseous anymore.”

He took three theater classes Winter Quarter, none of which involved excessive reading or paper-writing, Nellis said, but treatment wasn’t any easier.

“(Chemotherapy) is the hardest, single-most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” Nellis said. “You make yourself do it because you know the consequences in the long run even if it makes you feel shitty in the short run.”

His roommate, Communication sophomore Michael Rosenblum, said seeing Nellis sick and dorm-ridden was upsetting.

“There was something very wrong about that,” Rosenblum said. “Jason’s not a guy who sits around doing nothing.”

Near the end of chemotherapy, Nellis would vomit for four days straight. Radiation left a sunburn on his chest and neck, where the cancer was located, and a feeling of “giddy exhaustion.”

Yet it was easier than being home in Maryland last fall when his parents constantly worried over his health, safety and eating, he said. The exhaustion of undergoing chemotherapy last fall limited Nellis to sleeping, watching TV, reading and going online.

“It felt like I was a goddamned child,” Nellis said. “It wasn’t quite like being an invalid, but it was kind of close.”

When he did leave the house, he volunteered as an acting coach at his high school and visited a few friends. But it still was a solitary quarter.

“It’s hard to be home when there’s no one there,” he said. “It just leaves you with your thoughts of being sick.”

But Nellis’ preferred treatment is humor.

Communication freshman Molly Schneider said she still remembers first meeting Nellis, who would jokingly refer to himself as ‘Sick Boy.’

“The first words out of his mouth were ‘I have cancer and that’s why I look like a muskrat,'” said Schneider, assistant stage manager for “The Taming of the Shrew.”

‘fuck cancer’

About 30 of Nellis’ friends last Saturday celebrated the end of his treatment with a surprise “Fuck Cancer”-themed party, complete with a vanilla cake decorated with the theme’s slogan.

But Nellis isn’t finished with the trips to the clinic. Doctors told Nellis there is little chance of recurrence, but he still must undergo regular check-ups for the next five years.

The statistics are in his favor. Early detection last September led to a Stage 2 diagnosis, which has a 90 percent to 95 percent five-year survival rate, according to the American Cancer Society.

But Christina Ferguson, Nellis’ mother, said she’s still anxious for the test results to come back, though she is optimistic about her son’s future.

“It’s obvious to me that he can overcome some really enormous obstacles and challenges in life with a really healthy, good attitude and with a lot of energy,” Ferguson said. “I know whatever he encounters in life he’ll tackle and win.”

Nellis said he’s also confident about his future and hopes to land a theater internship in New York this summer.

Despite the optimism, Nellis still has trouble describing the intimate details of his journey.

“It’s hard to think about,” he said slowly. “I’m thankful for it in some ways because it taught me to appreciate life and not take it for granted.”