Months ago when I was first approached about writing a blog I was rather resistant to the idea. My husband, Mike, encouraged me to do it telling me that it might help someone. I reluctantly agreed to do it with that in mind – if I could help one person in some small way, then I would do it.
Though you may find this hard to believe I am a rather private, reserved person. However, having breast cancer somehow made me feel that privacy wasn’t an option since I was going to be out of work for my surgery, I was going to have chemo and I was going to lose my hair. I was very open about my journey right from the start with my friends, family and coworkers. So I went into writing this blog with an open mind and an open heart.
Remembering that I wanted to somehow help someone in some small way now makes me smile. The feedback I have received from so many of you has truly been humbling. At times, writing the blog brought me to tears. To write about getting diagnosed with breast cancer was difficult all over again. But then it was OK because someone e-mailed me to tell me that reading my story gave her the push she needed to schedule her mammogram.
I’ve had wonderful support from my husband, Mike, and my children. My journey and life was made so much easier with their love and support. They gave me the determination I needed to fight as hard as I could. And Trish has become someone who entered my life that I wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for my breast cancer. She gave me the push and encouragement I needed to plow forward and achieve my goals.
Through the last months, I shared my journey of recovery, my fears, my triumphs and introduced you to my family. But what makes me smile now is that, though I wanted to help others somehow, I found that this all helped me! I found writing therapeutic and hearing from all of you carried me through some bumps along my journey.
I thought that writing a blog would be very “one directional," but I heard from so many of you. You left comments on the blog, e-mailed me or stopped to talk to me. I heard your stories, your suggestions, your ideas, your energy and your prayers. I heard them and I felt them.
This is my last blog entry. I accomplished running the Race for the Cure on June 5, a goal I wrote about from the beginning of the blog. Though this is my last blog entry about that portion of my journey, my journey is not over. It will continue for years - shared by so, so many women already. Unfortunately, it will be a journey one in eight women will embark on in years to come. I started my own journey on June 26, 2009 when I was diagnosed. It's almost a year and I don't know what I'll do on this anniversary. I don't know how to feel about it. But nearly a year later, I am still standing. I am a survivor. I am surviving.
So, in parting, I have only two final things to say. First, please schedule your mammograms. And second, thank you for walking alongside me on my journey.