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

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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Alive

by Dan Godley July 19, 2022

The boundaries are blurred, so I wait
Observing from a distance,
I consider my fate

In time there’s some meaning
I establish my feelings
A calming naivety, au fait

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Unintentionally Sharp

by Madeline Bennett

I hate that I loved it most
at its weakest
I did not eat dry toast
or monotonous meals
My secret was dying a little
while trying not to die a lot

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My Days

by Carolyn Breinich July 15, 2022

Hospital visits Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Blood transfusions, Spinal Taps, Chemo,
Needles, Pills, Procedures,
Doctors, Nurses, Patients, Parents.

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Forty Thousand Feet

by Lisa Orr July 14, 2022

forty thousand feet.
a terrifying height.
at least it was,
it used to be.
every bump,
every shake would send me
over the edge.

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Dear Cancer, Thank You for Teaching Me Patience

by Natalie Shoulter July 13, 2022

Dear Cancer,

I would often think of you before I knew you. When I was a child, I would think to myself, “I was one of six children. What are the odds that none of us got cancer?” As I got into my teenage years, the question then became “Which one of us?”

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Dear Cancer, You Try to Take Away

by Erin Perkins June 28, 2022

Dear Cancer,

I have honestly feared you for as long as I can remember. A feeling of you meeting me along the way was consistently looming over me. So much so, that I can recall telling friends and family that I felt you would come for me, and I wondered if you already had.

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Dear Cancer, You Took the Best Parts of Me

by Tori North

Cancer,

I cannot even begin to describe the absolute void that lives within me because of you. I have been physically rid of you for almost six years now, and yet somehow you still manage to wreak havoc on my soul.

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Dear Cancer, You Stick to Me Like Glue

by Alique Topalian PhD, MPH

Dear Cancer,

My word, you really are a tricky little one. I don’t remember a life before you or without you. You seem to love to stick to me like glue. First popping out your dirty little head in 1998 when I was only four, taking my eye and my trust in my own body.

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Cold & In the Wide-Open Air

by Mallory Casperson

Dear Cancer,
I am so far from
the me who sat in that chair
cold and so afraid.

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Dear Cancer, We are Now Forever Intertwined

by Rori Zura

Dear Cancer,

I knew you were set to come after me. I mean you went after almost every other female in my family, so why wouldn’t you come after me?

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