A Morale Booster

Candi and I walked the survivor’s lap at the Relay for Life on Friday night and it really, really gave me an emotional lift that was desperately needed. It was encouraging to see so many cancer survivors walking proudly around the track at Memorial Stadium. And, it was just as moving to see the family, friends, and supporters of the survivors as they cheered and clapped for their loved ones who were walking the survivor’s lap. As Candi and I made our way around the track, I saw lots and lots of tears from the supporters and that made me a little emotional. It reinforced something that I learned when my brother-in-law Joe was battling cancer – the disease not only impacts the cancer patient, but also the family and friends in a significant way as well. I can only imagine the tears in the eyes of Susan, Joey, Matt, Kevin and the rest of the family if he would have been able to make that survivor’s walk. I know I would have been there cheering and clapping for him.

At the end of the lap, we received a Relay for Life medal, introduced ourselves and gave a time frame of being a survivor. For me, it has been three months. Candi is a 12 year survivor. I guess as soon as we are diagnosed, we become a cancer survivor. At first that seemed a little odd, but now I get it. I have never seen or heard the word – cured – referenced in all of my doctor visits or in any of the reading I have done. We become cancer free, but we don’t become cured of cancer. Maybe it is just semantics, but there is just too much fear about cancer returning or recurrence to use the ‘cured’ word. Cancer survivor works for me because I do feel like a cancer survivor. Even now, before I am finished with my initial treatment plan, I still feel like a survivor because cancer has impacted my life so much already. It is interesting as I think about what cancer has changed in my life. It certainly changed my summer plans – remember, it was going to be the summer of Mary Kay. I was going to work in the yard and play golf! Neither one happened. Instead, cancer reinforced a lot of what I already knew – that I am loved by many people AND that I love and care for so many people, too. Isn’t that interesting? Because of cancer, I didn’t get to play golf, but I had a lesson in love…….

I want to give a special shout out to Nancy, Candi, Todd and Shawn for supporting me at the Relay for Life. As you can see from the photo of Nancy, she is wearing a breast cancer necklace that was given to us by Barb Lehning from Logan. The necklace has the pink ribbon in the middle and is surrounded by the words: courage, life, celebrate, mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends. Thanks Barb for your support and generosity of spirit. If you need a place to stay in Manhattan, please know you are always welcome at our house. (I can say that without worry that Barb and Mike will actually take me up on the offer because their son, Jeremy, lives in the area, too. So I am assuming they will stay with him.)

I think most of you who read this blog on a somewhat regular basis can tell by my lack of posts that I am either busy with other things or I am not feeling well. I just haven’t had the mental and emotional energy to post much lately because of my fatigue status. This morning – Sunday – Nancy and I worked in the yard for less than an hour and it zapped the energy from me. It took me the rest of the day and a massage from Barbara just to recover from the yard work. Have I mentioned lately how wonderful Barbara is? I highly recommend her if anyone needs a massage or energy work!

Love to all,
Mary Kay