One year ago, my husband, Roman, was hospitalized at Roswell Park in Buffalo, NY for a stem cell transplant. As Canadians, when we first learned of the opportunity to have BMT at Roswell Park, we had no idea of what lay ahead.
Take it from George Grace: if you’ve smoked your entire life, you listen closely to news about innovative cancer treatments. Grace listened, even before a spot on his lung led to a diagnosis of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.
Everybody has bad days, but nobody tells you how to handle them. The times where you feel hopeless, anxious or paranoid. When you feel angry that cancer will always be a part of your life, scared that it may come back or frustrated that side effects from treatment might never go away.
I hope you will take a moment to write down what you want your 2017 to be. And whether you are in the middle of treatment, completing treatment, or newly diagnosed, trust that you will get to a place where you can say, “I'm happy, and I am alive.”
As a cancer survivor of 24 years, I’ve been through a significant amount of ups and downs when it comes to my health. In this environment, one learns to become fluid and quickly adapt. I’ve had the opportunity to revisit and evaluate several facets of my life—priorities, family, careers and other relationships. Twenty-four years post-diagnosis, I am still constantly making those assessments and adjustments.
2016 introduced us to a group of special survivors, including Mary Best, who shared tips for other young adults on handling social situations involving alcohol. KayEllen Gebhart’s first-hand advice resonated with ovarian cancer survivors, we shared tips on coping with "scanxiety," and you told us what not to say to a cancer patient.
In January 2016, after Natalie Morley, age 4, was kicked in the face at daycare by another child, a lump appeared near her temple. Concerned because the lump wasn’t getting any smaller, Natalie’s mother, Ariel Riddick, took her for a series of doctor’s appointments.
There are certain times of year when my cancer story makes me feel incredibly isolated. There’s the time surrounding April 14, the day I was diagnosed, July 29, the day I was deemed “in remission” and, the one I’ve experienced most recently, the month of October.