This is the title for an article in the October Fairlady:
What cancer means to me.
Just let that sink in for a minute. In the "old" days, we would hear about aunties brothers wife's cousin that had cancer, but now days it's hitting closer and closer to home with most people having someone they know directly or having it yourself.
If you type in "Cancer Blogs" uou'll get 38 100 000 results. There is even a "Best Cancer Blogs
of 2016" site!! You'll find blogs written by husbands, parents, wives and children
of cancer survivors and hundreds of blogs with with the latest on news and clinical research on the causes, treatments, and path to a potential cure for cancer, blogs covering a broad spectrum of the cancer field, from new patients to seasoned experts. There are support communities and blogs about “chemo brain,” post-treatment depression, fertility issues, and more. It's endless. But what this means is that cancer is becoming a very real part of our lives.
In January of this year, our lives fell apart as we knew it. Suze Original was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 29. She began treatment immediately and with the help of Dr Irene and her incredible team at the hospital,10 months later Suze Original is in her fourth and final stage of treatment, her hair is growing like wildflowers, she's back at work and is adjusting to her "new normal" life.
I'm really struggling to write this post, mostly I think because of guilt. I am the older sister and I am meant to protect and take care of my little sister. These things aren't meant to happen. I live 1453,7km away from her and have felt completely useless. Both Suze Original and I are not big on talking on the phone. When she gets teary, I immediately tear up and that wouldn't help her. The only way I knew to show her that I was here for her and that I was thinking of her every single day was to send her a picture a day. During a visit to Australia last year I stumbled upon an artist named Liz Climo and absolutely fell in love with her work. So each day I would send Suze Original a pic from Liz Climo, sometimes with a message attached, and some days just the pic. The idea was if only for a moment, she could have a giggle while all this madness was going on around her.
I will never understand what Suze Original is going through and has already been through, or know the emotions she has felt, the tears she has cried and the heartache she has felt, but I do know how I have felt through all this. And its not the best feeling. I've tried to read up about breast cancer as much as I can and asked my Doctor friend loads of questions (I try avoid google) and have even been asking Suze Original too so that I can have a better understanding where she has come from. October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in both the Fairlady and Good Housekeeping, there are Breast cancer articles that I found incredibly interesting and informative. The more we know, the more we understand.
I asked Suze Original to tell me what cancer means to her and here's her response:
What does cancer mean to me? Cancer WAS always the thing that would never happen to me, I was too young, too healthy and as it turns out..too naive. Cancer very quickly became a WAS to an IS. Cancer for me, is a physical and emotional roller coaster. It takes a lot away from you, but in a weird sense it gives you a lot too. It's one of those "when it rains look for rainbows" scenarios. Cancer has tested me on every level, it has broken me down and completely changed everything I had planned for my life. But it's also given me strength I never knew I had, it's shown me how loved I truly am and how supported I am. Cancer is a very polarised idea in my mind, it has taken a lot from me..but it has also made me realise what is important in life, to live each day fully (as clichéd as that is) to appreciate the small things ( like eyelashes and eyebrows 😂) and to always make the best of every situation. Everything happens for a reason, I'm still figuring out mine..but learning heaps full along the way ❤
So show your support, not only in October, but all the time. If you have a friend or relative that are fighting this disgusting disease, be there for them in whichever way you know how. Girls, check your boobies! Let's stand together and fight this.
Comments