January, 18th 2025: Join us for food, drinks, dancing, and author sharing — all to support our mission. Learn more here!
Survivorship
The stories and experiences are written by people after cancer treatments. These stories are written for those learning how to get back to work, college or just trying to be themselves again. Just getting past treatments isn’t enough, it is surviving and thriving that is key to being you again.
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My Radiation Tattoos
There was a random Tuesday in May of 2025 where I had to drive to this Brutalist structure in suburban Massachusetts and get some tattoos. Not the fun kind, but three small blue-green dots that would align with precision inside a proton blasting, life saving robotic machine.
Read More...Stolen Glances
Back in November, I attended one of the events Elephants and Tea hosted through the James Cancer Center’s “Care for Life” program. That was where I received my cancer treatments, but truth be told, it took me many years before I actually wanted to attend any kind of support group.
Read More...Dear Cancer, Stop Whispering To Me
Dear Cancer, You need to stop whispering to me when I am happy — when the sun is shining and rainbows are reflecting through prisms.
Read More...Dear Cancer, Three Years Have Gone By
Three years have gone by and I still have a radiation mask sitting in my closet that once bolted me down to a cold and tall table. Three years have gone by and I have a box in my bedroom filled with every card, every hospital band, every single tangible item anyone gave to me sitting in my “cancer box” because I can’t seem to get rid of anything.
Read More...Survivorship: More Than Just Survival
What does survivorship mean to me? It’s a question I’ve wrestled with since the day I rang the bell, signaling the end of chemotherapy. People cheered, my family cried, and I smiled—but inside, I was holding my breath.
Read More...Dear Cancer, I Still Hate You
It has been a while since the last time I talked directly to you. After some time needed away after the procedure was done to rip you back out of my life at the same speed it took you to take it over, I am finally ready to address the elephant in the room.
Read More...Beyond Your Grip
You showed up like a thief, but worse, a thief takes what they want and leaves. You moved in, uninvited, rewriting my story in ink I never chose.
Read More...The Give and Take of Cancer
People often ask, “are you okay now?” But how should I really answer that question? I am so scared all the time, I can’t even think straight. I wish life was simple but it’s not. It’s complicated, hard, and crazy at times but I try to make the most out of it.
Read More...9th Life
2 years 4 walls and it’s all that I know, Never thought, I’d find myself here living back home, Feels like I’m losing myself hearing get well soons
Read More...Lifelines Through a Keyboard
Shock permeated my breast cancer diagnosis. I was too young and healthy for this disease, or so I thought. I was fooled by the longevity that ran in my family. Now chemotherapy ran through my veins, and radiation also took its toll on my body.
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