The Elephant in the Room is Cancer. Tea is the Relief Conversation Provides.

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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A Second Chance

by Gena Bradshaw April 26, 2022

Never in my life did I think I would be here today writing about being a two-time cancer survivor at 28 years old. My name is Gena Bradshaw, and I was diagnosed with leukemia at age three and a half and thyroid cancer at age twenty.

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Night Vision

by Madeline Bennett

Some years are a dark tunnel / claustrophobic with exhaust / Some, an open field / the biggest sky and the slightest breeze / And I suspect some years / fall somewhere in between / But my memory lately / is of the extremes

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The Who’s Who of Sexual Health in Survivorship

by Marloe Esch DNP, RN, APNP, AGCNS-BC, OCN, CSC April 22, 2022

Building a Sexual Wellness Recovery Team. Changes in sex, intimacy, and relationships are common after cancer.  But if you are experiencing an issue, it can feel pretty lonely, and you may not know who to ask for help. Your primary care or oncology care teams are always a good place to start.

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Stop Calling Me a Warrior

by Sara Blair April 20, 2022

I remember the day I was diagnosed with cancer, but it is all a bit of a blur. You know how sometimes videos are made of snap shots of split-second moments—they just flash up on the screen. Maybe a picture for each minute.

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The “G” Word

by Stephanie Scoletti April 19, 2022

If I said, “The ‘C’ word”, you would know exactly what I’m referring to. Cancer has earned many names and initials over the years. Yet there’s one word that we still can’t seem to find ways to discuss, we struggle to accept it, and we simply fear it.

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Supported and Surrounded

by Jennifer Anand April 12, 2022

I sat on the crisp white sheets of my friend’s bed, scrolling through my phone. Suddenly, my face felt wet and my hand pulled away from my nose, covered in blood. I sprung from the bed so as not to sully the new sheets, dashed to the sink and stuffed paper towel after paper towel in my nose.

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Let Your Grief Help You Find the Light

by Lisa Orr

“People talk about grief as emptiness, but it’s not empty. It’s full. Heavy. Not an absence to fill. A weight to pull. Your skin caught on hooks chained to rough boulders made of all the futures you thought you’d have.”

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Coping with Colon Cancer

by Sarah Wartell April 10, 2022

In July 2021, my doctors declared me NED, which means no evidence of disease! Suck it, cancer. I feel super lucky to be joining a new group of warriors: cancer survivors. I am six months post-chemo and surgery after battling stage III colon cancer for nearly eight months.

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Business As Unusual

by Madeline Bennett April 5, 2022

It is hard to resume
business as usual
when you’ve watched the clock’s hand
move toward midnight
as flesh

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Cancer and Surviving

by Emily Lucero

The year was 2010; when I was 11 years old, I was diagnosed with cancer. I saw blood that was dark “wine-colored” red in my colostomy bag (which is basically a bag that has to drain the intestine), while I was waking up from my long night’s sleep in my hospital room.

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