Caregivers
These stories are written by caregivers and loved ones of those dealing with cancer. Cancer hits the entire family hard, including the caregiver. Find inspiration and a community of caregivers sharing their stories to help lift each other up.
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A Horrible Nightmare
May 24th started like any other regular Sunday morning. I had just returned from a trip and was catching up with my dad, stepmom, and younger sister, telling stories while drinking a cup of coffee. Our light and giggly conversations about the weather and our dinner plans for that night quickly took a turn as I heard the words, “There is something we have to tell you.”
Read More...My Place in the Family of Things
My Place in the Family of Things: How Nature Helps Me Cope as a Caregiver. “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – over and over announcing your place in the family of things.” – Mary Oliver
Read More...Don’t Be a Hero (You Already Are)
Your child was just diagnosed with cancer, and my heart goes out to you. Diagnosis day is a day forever imprinted in your soul — “D-Day” in our house: January 6th, 1999. I’ll never forget that wash of shock, fear, and utter paralysis when our daughter’s oncologist called us at home with the news: Cecilia had leukemia.
Read More...Learning to Love Through Loss
After a decade of chasing our dream, we were finally living it. We had amazing friends and family, built three businesses and fostered an abundant community surrounding coffee and bikes. That’s when it all fell apart.
Read More...Is it up or down from here?
Is it up or down from here? Think of a physical rollercoaster for a moment. Now, I will be the first to admit – I am terrified of rollercoasters, and rollercoasters are a trigger for my anxiety, but for this article rollercoasters provide the best analogy. If someone invites me to the fair or amusement […]
Read More...Untangling Survivorship Together
At the end of May 2005, my boyfriend Andrew was diagnosed with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia (ALL). He was twenty-two years old. I was twenty-three. Of all the things we were supposed to worry about in our early twenties, cancer was not supposed to be one of them.
Read More...Parenting an Adult with Cancer
Many things weren’t my decision. Many things he had to do on his own, like figure out social security, disability, food stamps, insurance. His dad helped some, but when it came down to it, Kyle was legally an adult.
Read More...Dear Cancer, I Will Not Thank You, Ever
A Poem to cancer from the Steven G. Cancer Foundation and Elephants and Tea President.
Read More...Construction
You were thrust into my life like a wrecking ball through a building. As if our world needed disruption. You marched in taking charge, it didn’t matter that we didn’t know you. We complied with your requests, dropped plans when you announced your scheme.
Read More...What A Journey It Has Been
What a journey it has been, all it took was one day back in 2007 that has since changed the path in which my life would go. I did not know back then what to expect. I did not understand what the balance of a cancer diagnosis would be.
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