What is it about this time of year? In my column Sunday, I mentioned a few of my friends who had recently gotten diagnoses of breast cancer, and today I heard from an old friend in the fight who, I’m sorry to say, is wrestling with another chapter of her breast cancer drama. When she saw yesterday on Oprah that Dr. Oz was interviewing “cancer patients who are dying pretty soon, I thought I simply couldn’t watch it. I am too emotional right now, too vulnerable … But, Leanne, I’m so glad I did. Because they were so strong, so together, as to what’s important in this life, that it just gave me resolve to nag the crap out of women to get their damn mammograms.”
In what I can’t imagine is a coincidence, one of the women on Oprah was Kris Carr, author of “Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips” (a Skirt! book; read more here) and queen of a burgeoning movement to empower women with scary diagnoses (as well as young women with cancer) to take the fight into their own hands. My only quibble …… Kris may have Stage 4 cancer, but she is definitely NOT dying … she is living, and to the fullest.
So maybe that should be our theme as we head into this year’s Race for the Cure Saturday: Let’s live until we die. No matter if we’ve been diagnosed, are watching our beloved friends fight the fight, or are lucky enough to be well and able to raise money to find new treatments and, eventually, a cure.
I’ll be there Saturday WEARING A SKIRT (hey, it’s the coolest magazine in town, have you heard?), and will look forward to seeing you there, too.
Meantime, let’s start a list of women with cancer, either now or in their past, who are LIVING. I’ll start … Ellen. Diane. Kathy. Michelle. Kris … who would you add?
Responses to “The race, the cure, and the power of hope.”
October 24th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Loved Sunday’s column and this blog. “Let’s live until we die” is a great theme. Doing anything else is a stupid rejection of God’s greatest gift to us. On my china cabinet is a painted sign with this quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt, who knew a few things about living life her way: “Celebrate! Life has got to be lived - that’s all there is to it!” I’ll be at the Race Saturday celebrating my 11th year of wearing the pink shirt and hat, with lots of good friends, family and sister survivors. Here are some of their names to add to your list — Pam, Pat, Celia, Nikki, Kelley, Monica, Bonnie, Cindy, Dawnell, Sandra, Wynn, Vicki, Virginia, Mimi — long-time survivors and brand-new ones, And your Ellen is on my list, too. Hope to see you Saturday in your skirt. I’ll ask my photographer husband Tom to look for you specially. Tom and the other volunteers from the Memphis Camera Club will be all over Saddle Creek again, recording all the emotions and events, and most of all, the people brought together by the Komen promise, to end breast cancer forever. Keep up your good work in spreading awareness and saving lives.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Cindy, Carol Ann and Shirley - the 3 women in the picture accompanying your piece, who have 33 survival years between them…each one working double-time to encourage others!
Barbara, Joyce, and Teena battling metastatic cancer courageously, trying new cutting edge drugs that are the wave of the future.
Artist, Colleen Newport Stevens, who battled for 13 years, trying everything available (as she said, “right after the lab rats and the monkeys!”). She left us about four years ago but she left us with stories of her never-give-up, thumb-your-nose-at-cancer attitude!
All those women with other kinds of cancer who didn’t get their own pink month, especially the ovarian survivors who must fight so hard just to get diagnosed…Brenda, Susan, and Ann.
Robin, trying to make the decision on whether to have bilateral mastectomies, even though one breast is healthy. She wonders, like so many others, if she can live with the fear of that healthy one betraying her in the future.
I wish I could list the thousands of them out there. Please just add Mid-South Warrior Women to your list and cover them all…they own that title.