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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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.
Dear Cancer: You Lost
Dear Cancer,
Hi, it’s me again. We haven’t talked in a while, but honestly, I didn’t know what to say to you. You failed to drag me down and I rang that wonderful bronze bell in spite of you. There was a celebration when you finally moved out. Of course, you took a bit of my femur with you, but I don’t mind. I got a really cool scar in return.
Read More...Uninvited Intruder, Unyielding Survivor
Dear Cancer,
If you had a face, a form, or a name, what would it be? Would it be a grotesque monster lurking in the shadows or a subtle, insidious force weaving its way through the fabric of life?
Read More...Dear Cancer, You Became My Silver Lining
Dear Cancer,
May 19, 2015, the day I discovered you were living within me. At just 26 years old, I was gearing up for a rollercoaster ride that, little did I know, I would never get off. I thought there would be an end to you, a day where my life would go back to what it was, and I could act as if you had never happened.
Read More...The Impossibilities of Life in the Mind of Someone Healthy
Dear Cancer,
What do I want to say to you at our ten year anniversary? Like many patients, I still remember when we were introduced in 2014 like I had selective hyperthymesia for that day. At the time I received brain tumor diagnoses of grades I, II, III, and IV, with no member of my medical team able or willing to tell me anything about my prognosis.
Read More...