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, I Failed at Cancer School
I went through 16 rounds of chemotherapy, 2 surgeries, and 28 rounds of radiation, and I failed at cancer school. The thought of having to repeat these courses, though, is now my greatest fear.
Read More...Dear Cancer, I am My Own Story
You see, I am finally giving myself the permission to be me in the most authentic way possible. Sure, you might have forced my hand at discovering these things about myself all at once rather than bit by bit as I age, but I’m sick and tired of you taking the credit for how my life has changed.
Read More...Dear Cancer, I Won’t Sit in Fear
Ever since you left, I can’t quite seem to find a rhythm. When I take two steps forward, you push me three steps back. I escaped our toxic affair, yet the ghost of who we were follows me everywhere.
Read More...Dear Cancer, Your Pain Made Me Stronger
Now I’ve written a book about my battle with you, so others will have the courage to fight you too. You might have thought you were powerful, but my faith was more powerful than you. I trusted my doctors, and I trusted God; together, you were defeated. You tried to destroy me, but in the end, you only made me stronger.
Read More...Dear Cancer, It’s Been Complicated
Dear Cancer, It’s been complicated. I’m sure a lot of people would like to know how we met. Were we introduced by family (genetics), online dating (Google searching my symptoms), restaurant, or bar (bad eating/too much drinking)?
Read More...Dear Cancer, I Can Handle Anything Because of You
Well, in 2017, I thought life was good. There was so much to look forward to. But Cancer, you chose to show your ugly and repulsive face, at a time when everything in my life was how it should be.
Read More...The Return of the Dear Cancer Magazine
What would you say to cancer if you could write it a letter? That is what this new issue is all about. For those that do not remember and have not been a part of the Herd prior to 2020, we ran our first Dear Cancer issue in December 2019.
Read More...Surviving Survivorship
People often expect that once a cancer survivor’s ordeal is complete, a person should return to their normal daily routine and give thanks for making it through. But in my opinion, survivorship is actually the hardest part of my cancer journey.
Read More...Guilty for Simply Being Alive
As a child I didn’t really understand much of what was going on and what “Having Cancer” really meant. My family did most of the fighting and advocating for me and what I did understand I had been doing it for so long that it was just normal to me.
Read More...How Yoga Helped Me Crush Cancer and Crisis
In 2016, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer a few months short of my 40th birthday. Fast forward to 2020. I’m three years cancer-free – but I was laid off for the first time in my life in the early stages of a global pandemic.
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