January, 18th 2025: Join us for food, drinks, dancing, and author sharing — all to support our mission. Learn more here!
AYA Cancer
G-R-I-E-F
What does this simple but devastating five letter word really mean? Grief: does it mean to mourn or cry, or simply miss someone dear to you? Grief can be described as a lot of things to many different people, but it is never an easy word to swallow.
Read More...The “How” of Grief
He holds up the object in front of him with a wide smile on his face. A cookie – seemingly innocent and yet it looked enough like a breast. The first Pinktober after my mastectomy and lymph node dissection, I stumbled into ‘a bake sale for breast cancer’ and “boob cookies” were being sold – sugar cookies frosted pink with nipples.
Read More...The Loss of My Grandfather
In May 2011, at the age of 71, my Grandfather John was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer. I remember this day like it was yesterday. It was a sunny and warm day. My grandparents came to my parents’ house to tell us about the news after his doctor’s appointment. He was told he had to start multiple rounds of chemotherapy as soon as possible.
Read More...Computers Crash and So Do We
“Did You Back-Up Your Computer?” For those of us who were of age to watch “Sex In the City” when it originally aired, I hope you can appreciate this reference. For the younger generations watching the reruns, you may or may not appreciate it quite as much. Synopsis of the episode: “My Motherboard, My Self” (season four, episode eight; originally aired 7/15/2001 – Wow, I feel old!)
Read More...One Hundred and Sixty Seven Pairs of Eyes
What are you afraid of? Is it snakes or spiders? Or maybe you’re like me. Maybe you aren’t afraid of an object. Maybe… just maybe it’s a feeling, an emotion – something that consumes your every thought. Maybe your fear is what other people might see.
Read More...From Clomid to Chemo
One of the things I struggle with as a young adult with cancer is never having children. It’s depressing when you see friends and family having and raising children all around you. And you know you’ll never get to be part of that mommy club. Especially when you were already in the process of working on it.
Read More...Tiger Trials
Our knowledge about what breast cancer is, how it works, and treatments for it have come a long way from the first documented cases in 3000BC. At that time there was essentially no understanding about cancer, particularly metastatic types, and the mortality rate for Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) sat solidly at 100% for many years.
Read More...The Power of the Community
My community of support has been a major factor within my breast cancer journey and has gotten me through many years. From the moment that I was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, over 22 years ago, to my first diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer just a couple years later, I have always had an army of support right there with me to help me throughout this journey.
Read More...Letter to my Unborn Children
I always knew having you was a long shot, a thought, a wild dream / Yet night after night I prayed over my womb asking God to bless me with the gift of Life / I had dreams of feeling your every movement from within my womb / Hearing your heartbeat for the first time
Read More...Calling All White Allies to Find Their “Something”
Two weeks after my college graduation, I was thrilled to land a job working in cancer research at a prestigious cancer center in Cleveland. I was especially excited to be working to provide better access to clinical trials for blood cancer patients since a dear friend of mine is a childhood leukemia survivor. Little did I know as a young and healthy 22-year-old, that the same friend would be shuttling me to and from appointments at the same cancer center after my own cancer diagnosis.
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