"Being a Cancer Survivor is a Community"

In everyday life there is someone who finds out they or a loved one has cancer. It can be the most devastating "C" word you ever hear. Everything runs through your mind from "Am I going to live long, will I lose all of my hair to who is going to help care for my kids"? Maybe not in that order, but these are things that I caught myself thinking about.

I am surrounded daily by people who are cancer survivors and who are still fighting to be a survivor. These people are the most courageous but scared people you will ever meet. All of my strengths are their weaknesses and their weaknesses are my strengths. You stick together, you are always supportive and we never stop raising money to help fight cancer. This elite group of people walks around you and me everyday.

This includes are grandparents, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, last but not least, our kids! You don't always know it because they don't always show it.
The last thing we need is a bunch of pity. Believe you me; we have our own pity parties when needed. This may include but not limited to lots of chocolates, ice cream, chips dips, candies and whatever else we aren't supposed to have.

We all share the need to survive, the need to protect our families from the pain and the interest to find a cure. Tension can build at times when tests don't come back good but yet you feel good. Doctors not returning calls on time, being sick from treatments and of course exhausted and just wanting to go home from the hospital to your own bed.

I am a survivor, as well as my fiancé, sister, aunt, cousin and two of my closest girlfriends. But I will not forget to mention the ones we have lost and all the new and wonderful people I have met and listened to their stories while attending cancer walks and other fundraisers to fight this battle. I will continue to be in this community and raise money to find cures for all the different types of cancers; so my kids and family as well as yours never have to worry about that world stopping "C" word.