“I just want to live!” It’s came out like a whisper, an endless prayer, a mantra in each breath, it poured from my mouth like a wounded animal howl. I felt it in my bones on sleepless nights...
Our Voices Rising: At the Intersection of my Flat Chest and an Antiquated System of Care
Women everywhere are calling for the standard of surgical breast cancer options to shift and include flat closure. We’re finally positioned culturally and historically to demand autonomy over our health care choices, and how we express our ideas of what is truly healthy and beautiful for ourselves.
When Raised on Crumbs of Love
When parents are trying so very hard to keep their heads above water, they may not be able to show you what it is to be a strong swimmer. It can feel messy and scary, like drowning. As a young woman, I wish someone had told me is to stop flailing, to lie on my back and look up at the stars, and helped me to see what I could have and be if I stopped waiting for rescue.
Wild Walkers
I pictured each step as walking towards my health. Then I repeated the names of my friends and family who were still facing their diagnosis, as well as those who had died from cancer. I said their names over and over, each step bringing me closer to the finish line.
Freedom: Experiencing a Full Range of Emotions
"the degree to which you can own your own darkness is the degree to which you can own your light."
Waiting for Results
It’s cancer. No it’s not. It has to be, otherwise why wouldn’t they publish my biopsy results on the patient portal. Why is no one calling back? It’s been over two weeks now. Where are my results? Then I think, this will change everything. And at the same time, this will change nothing. At this… Continue reading Waiting for Results
Why I Posed Nude on National TV
The vision came to me in the shower. I saw myself standing naked at the mouth of an open cave in front of a reverse halo of blackness. Charise was there too, crouched down to take my picture. I remembered seeing her at that art opening last spring, and the open invitation to do a… Continue reading Why I Posed Nude on National TV
Where’s the Awareness in Pinktober?
Putting more plastic ephemera out into the world is not helping to our world to heal, nor will it miraculously produce a cure. Follow the money trail on those pink proceeds. And the last thing a woman undergoing cancer treatment needs is a pink ribbon gift. A pink ribbon isn't a badge of courage. Each journey through a cancer is a personal one, and some may gather strength and a sense of purposeful focus from clutching a pink ribbon key chain, or celebrate life with a pink ribbon tattoo. That's cool. But let us look beyond the pink!
After Effects: The Scars People Don’t See
I'm still not ready to accept these permanent changes to the way I think, that whole chunks of my life's experiences are wholly inaccessible to me now. It's like a beloved photo album was punted it into the air and many of those key moments and conversations scattered, leaving sticky yellow rectangles and partially filled pages.
3 Main Reasons Why You May Be Afraid to Ask for Help, and What You Can Do About It
Most people have a really hard time asking for help. I was one of these people. It was far more natural to be in a position to helping others, than to ask for help myself. I was a lifelong chronic caregiver. This all changed after a breast cancer diagnosis when I was 33 years old,… Continue reading 3 Main Reasons Why You May Be Afraid to Ask for Help, and What You Can Do About It
