January, 18th 2025: Join us for food, drinks, dancing, and author sharing — all to support our mission. Learn more here!
AYA Cancer
Survivorship: More Than Just Survival
What does survivorship mean to me? It’s a question I’ve wrestled with since the day I rang the bell, signaling the end of chemotherapy. People cheered, my family cried, and I smiled—but inside, I was holding my breath.
Read More...In Defense of Messy Emotions
I look out at a hundred faces of AYA patients, survivors, and their loved ones quietly sipping their coffee, tea, and water. Everyone here has taken time out of their Saturday to hear a panel of people like me explain how we’ve “made meaning” out of having cancer as a young adult.
Read More...Dear Cancer, I Still Hate You
It has been a while since the last time I talked directly to you. After some time needed away after the procedure was done to rip you back out of my life at the same speed it took you to take it over, I am finally ready to address the elephant in the room.
Read More...Beyond Your Grip
You showed up like a thief, but worse, a thief takes what they want and leaves. You moved in, uninvited, rewriting my story in ink I never chose.
Read More...A Simple Twist of Fate
I’ve always despised the trope of the patient who pulls through against all odds, despite all evidence to the contrary. Yes, diagnoses can shift and treatment plans evolve, but the ultimate trajectory rarely strays far from the original suspicion.
Read More...The Give and Take of Cancer
People often ask, “are you okay now?” But how should I really answer that question? I am so scared all the time, I can’t even think straight. I wish life was simple but it’s not. It’s complicated, hard, and crazy at times but I try to make the most out of it.
Read More...9th Life
2 years 4 walls and it’s all that I know, Never thought, I’d find myself here living back home, Feels like I’m losing myself hearing get well soons
Read More...Dear Cancer, You’re the Queen of Giving and Taking Away
You’re the queen of giving and taking away. I look back now at how much I thought my life was ruined the day I opened a mychart notification with the word carcinoma in it.
Read More...Lifelines Through a Keyboard
Shock permeated my breast cancer diagnosis. I was too young and healthy for this disease, or so I thought. I was fooled by the longevity that ran in my family. Now chemotherapy ran through my veins, and radiation also took its toll on my body.
Read More...the timeless passages of my mind and soul
Every now and then I think about shaving my head again and
how maybe if I shave my head again,
flowers will start to grow out of my eyes, blinding me with the beauty