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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Dear Cancer, You Try to Take Away
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.
Read More...Dear Cancer, You Took the Best Parts of Me
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.
Read More...Dear Cancer, You Stick to Me Like Glue
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.
Read More...Cold & In the Wide-Open Air
Dear Cancer,
I am so far from
the me who sat in that chair
cold and so afraid.
Dear Cancer, We are Now Forever Intertwined
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?
Read More...Dear Cancer, It’s Me
Dear Cancer,
It’s me. The one your cells decided to affect with your invasive takeover. It’s me. The one you decided would fight your battle. It’s me. The one that is now advocating for those who cannot anymore. It’s me. The one who cannot fathom why you chose her to survive.
Read More...Dear Cancer, We Acknowledge You
Dear Cancer,
I wish I could paint you as a villain, as so many others have. I wish I could wear the F*$& CANCER shirts and personify myself as a WARRIOR and pretend that cancer is an adversary that can be conquered if you just try hard enough, truly believe, and stay positive. But Cancer, you are not that villain.
Read More...Dear Cancer, I Learned to Live Again
Dear Cancer,
When I found out you were in my body I was scared, mad, and I lost all hope. I hated you for so long for taking my hair, my health, and my hope. I hated you for giving me anxiety, PTSD, and for trying to kill me.
Read More...Dear Cancer, We Have Been on an Adventure
Dear Second Half,
We have been on an adventure for 13 years this April, ironically both of us are celebrating our “birth” on my birthday. I hate you, and at times I am grateful.
You have stolen moments from me that I will never get back. You have limited me in so many ways by constantly throwing a wrench into my plans. After 13 years, you have broken down my body; years of treatment, procedures, tests, hospitalizations, and because you are rare, often a lot of guesswork.
Read More...Dear Cancer, You Need to Behave
Cancer,
Let’s sit down and have a talk.
I am just going to come out and say it: you need to behave. I know you and I are going to be stuck with each other for the rest of my life, but can you at least make things a bit easier?
Read More...