It's so important to network and find support from others who have traveled the road you're about to go down. That however is easier said than done. I remember feeling like I wanted to communicated with someone who really "got it." Not just my family and friends who were giving me love and support. I needed a warrior who had already been to battle and come back to tell her story. That's what I needed!
I was 37 at the time of my diagnosis. I thought to myself, that's so young. How am I going to find someone my age who's already been through breast cancer? My family would remark about friends of theirs who had gone through it, but they were all so much older than me, I just didn't think I would be able to relate. So I shied away from those opportunities. The desire to connect with survivors though remained very strong. So I started snooping around on breast cancer websites looking for ways to reach out.
One of the sites I went to of course was the Susan G Komen site. There I found stories that women told about their journeys and fights. They were so inspiring. One story I read really grabbed my attention because the story was so similar to mine. She was the same age as me when she found a lump during a self-exam. She was married and had a blended family like me. I don't know what else it was other than pure SERENDIPITY but when finished reading her story I glanced to the bottom of the page where it stated where she was from. And wouldn't you know it, she lives in the same city as me. I had to reach out I thought...but how?
All I could think to do besides contacting Susan G Komen for help was to search her name on Facebook. And as luck would have it, there she was. I sent her a message telling her all about my reading her story and realizing we lived nearby. I told her about my diagnosis and asked her if she'd be interested in meeting up for some coffee and providing a little peek into the world of breast cancer and treatment and life and all that good stuff.
I couldn't have been more please when I got a quick reply agreeing to meet up! So we had coffee a while later and shared our stories. It was really healing to do this. When we first met, that first greeting, we hugged and I can't explain it but it's a different sort of hug than any other. It's the kind that say's I know where you are, and I know where you are going. It says, I get it. And it's all knowing. I cried. We cried. I'll never forget it.
After that coffee date, we continued to meet up for coffee talks and then we started having dinners with our families so the husbands could talk and the kids could talk. It's sort of become a regular thing we do. I couldn't have found a better friend, mentor, and soul sister. And did I mention she's a total rock star? Uh, yes, this chick ran in the SGK Global Race for the Cure in 2012 the day after she finished chemo. Bald and all!
See, she is an avid runner, a marathon runner actually. She runs the Marine Corps Marathon every year and this year her time qualified her for Boston in 2015!!!! I am so proud of her.
After that race in 2012, SGK caught an amazing photo of her and her sister crossing the finish line and so this year they used that photo and she became the SGK poster girl for the Race in 2013, which I proudly attended and listened to her speech.
I give her so much thanks and appreciation. She has been a light when things were dark and I could not see. And I think the universe was lining things up for me that day when I read her story. I know she was sent to me as a blessing and I cherish my friendship with her.
Our favorite things to do are usually catching up over coffee and then hitting the trails in the parks and wooded paths. Nature helps us escape and we converse about things only we understand. We also have kept up the family dinner tradition about once a month and we always go to the same place. It's funny, because it's just this little Mexican restaurant that we found and love and so that just become "our place."
So here's to putting yourself out there. Look around. There are plenty of women as I quickly realized after opening my eyes a bit who are young and have had or are going through breast cancer. This is not just a disease of the postmenopausal type. It hits all age groups. I wish everyone will find a friend like I did.
My friend for life.
No comments:
Post a Comment