January, 18th 2025: Join us for food, drinks, dancing, and author sharing — all to support our mission. Learn more here!
Breast Cancer
The Unexpected Gift of Hardship
There’s a peculiar irony in the act of surviving cancer. One might assume that the end of treatment signals a triumphant return to normalcy, a victory lap, if you will.
Read More...Surviving Survivorship
No one prepared me for survivorship. No one braced me for how much harder surviving cancer would be than it ever was fighting it. No one told me it would be impossible to reclaim a life that once existed before cancer crudely intruded.
Read More...Survivorship – Rediscovering Life
It’s been a little more than two years since I kept reading the biopsy report over and over in my hands, the words “Invasive breast carcinoma” not sinking in.
Read More...The Glorious Gap
Heading into the interview, I look into the car mirror one last time, and adjust my head scarf. Hmm…will they discriminate against me for wearing a headscarf?!
Read More...The Unseen Battle of Life After Treatment
After being diagnosed with breast cancer at 33 last year—and completing active treatment (chemo, surgery, radiation) a few months ago, with one more surgery still ahead—I’ve found myself stepping into survivorship.
Read More...Erection Protection: The Sexy Side of Heart-Healthy Habits
“You’re too young to be worrying about your heart health!” Hmmm . . . where have I heard that sentiment before? I don’t know about you, but as a young adult (YA) cancer survivor, I’m highly skeptical of anyone who tells me that I’m “too young” to worry about anything related to my health.
Read More...Remodeling My Emotional Kitchen: Healing Through Cancer
Cancer changed my relationships with others by forcing me to face and process my trauma. Eve Ensler, the playwright of The Vagina Monologues and a cancer survivor herself, reported that she survived cancer by confronting her trauma, along with making lifestyle changes and using traditional Western medicine.
Read More...Everything Happens for a Reason…Or Does It?
I liken this phrase to “God gives you what you can handle”. The first time I heard it was after my grandfather had been diagnosed with lung cancer and my grandmother informed our minister and the congregation about his condition.
Read More...Trapped
Trapped in a bed. In a room. On the oncology floor.
Will they ever let me leave?
Anxiety Stream
There’s a lyric from Snoh Aalegra’s song “Violet Skies” that goes “I’ve always been a worrier, but I’ll always be a warrior”. For some reason, that lyric stuck with me when I started my cancer journey.
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