January, 18th 2025: Join us for food, drinks, dancing, and author sharing — all to support our mission. Learn more here!
AYA Cancer
The Give and Take of Cancer
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 39 – a time in my life when everything finally felt steady. Life had a rhythm, a sense of peace I had worked so hard to build. I had a stable job I genuinely enjoyed, daily routines that grounded me, and a grown, independent daughter who had become her own beautiful person.
Read More...Choosing Hope
Cancer has taken so much. It’s hard to think of what it’s given. But I suppose it has put me in the here and now – forced me to be in the present. Required that I think of life as a gift where tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
Read More...Thick is Beautiful
Thicker skin doesn’t suggest overweight, A bigger size doesn’t mean too big, The size of a waist doesn’t define beauty, Hair doesn’t define me though history is attached to it, Cancer made me believe that I had lost myself due to losing my hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes
Read More...Overcoming Health Anxiety
For as long as I can remember, getting cancer has been one of my biggest fears. When I was a child, my parents had a medical encyclopedia with a symptom checker section I used to pore over, with every symptom eventually leading to an “Emergency! Get help now!” or “This could be a life threatening disease like cancer, go to the doctor!” box.
Read More...Your Worth
I’ve had a complicated relationship with my body since I was a preteen; I was struggling with my body image alongside a turbulent childhood. This was the perfect storm for the development of an eating disorder, which I struggled with for two years.
Read More...Why Wouldn’t Cancer Radicalize You?
Walkers, wheelchairs, canes. Tattoos, skin grafts, port scars. Those just-growing-in chemo bobs and badass wigs. Jackets, handheld fans, water bottles.
Read More...Take Care of Me
Strong hits me in the chest, a shove
Away from the comforting embrace
I’m left longing for
Strong leaves me alone to go on
Because I’ve “got this” and
If I’m strong then you don’t have to see me
Strength, Redefined.
I learned too young that strength isn’t loud. It doesn’t always stand tall with its chest out, doesn’t always roar.
Read More...Finding My Pack: How Cancer Taught Me the True Meaning of Brotherhood
Through my cancer diagnosis, I never truly understood the transformative power of connecting with another survivor. I had read the bold-faced words: community, compassion, empathy again and again in pamphlets, online articles, and support brochures, but they were just concepts that felt far removed from my own reality.
Read More...Things I Wish My Doctor Knew
I do not write this to assign blame. I write it because I survived — and survival has given me clarity. There are things I wish my doctor knew. I wish my doctor knew how to calculate my breast cancer risk accurately.
Read More...