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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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To Suffer and to Teach
Dear Cancer,
When you entered my life, I couldn’t say your name without bursting into big fat alligator tears. “I have cancer.” I hated the very phrase, as if you were something that belonged to me.
Read More...Dear Cancer, I Might Miss You
Dear Cancer,
I have written this letter to you a thousand times in my head. Each time, I argued about how I felt about you. How could I be angry at something that takes such an impersonal form? You aren’t even real. You don’t have a soul.
Read More...I’m Positive I Hate You
Dear ALK Positive,
I guess it’s time we became acquainted.
You’ve chosen this body to be your vessel. It would have been nice if you’d asked before rudely invading. Even trying to hide while you spread yourself out across more space than you needed.
Read More...Dearest Cancer
Dear Cancer,
July 1, 2020. You entered my life like a subway train speeding to its next stop. You brought so many words. Terrifying words. Confusing words. Complicated words. Hormones. Invasive ductal carcinoma. Margins. Stages. Lymph nodes. Metastasis. Surgery.
Read More...Dear Cancer (Circling Back)
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are spinning on the record player
I dance to Suite Judy Blue Eyes and remember who I am
Just a few weeks ago this scene would have been near impossible
Dear Cancer
Dear Cancer,
you probably don’t remember me.
you’ve probably seen a million kids since you met me.
there are thousands of kids that they couldn’t save,
Two Ribbons
Dear Cancer, I never would have thought that December 31, 2019, would be a day I would receive news that would change my life forever. I was in a complete state of denial, shock, and disbelief as I sat in my car in a parking lot.
Read More...Dear Cancer, Isn’t It Ironic?
Dear Cancer,
Read those two words again, isn’t it ironic? “Dear cancer.” Two words that should never be side by side, but here they are placed together so carelessly and yet also intentionally.
Read More...Dear Cancer, You Came Into My Life…
You came into my life as a nagging change—a slight pull to the left and a dimple on my breast. “It’s nothing. I am too young for it to be something.” I took you with me to visit my doctor.
Read More...I Walked A Thousand Miles
I walked a thousand miles away from home—
IV stands and frozen steps
Dicarbozene and overcast skies
With you, the uninvited.