It’s All About Hope for the Breast Cancer Survivor

Each day I spend a lot of my time researching what is going on in the world of breast cancer. It doesn’t matter whether it pertains to the latest research or anything else that might provide information on any level for the community. And often it might inspire what I will write about in my own weekly blog that is always based upon my own experiences or motivation for the work that I do. And suddenly I realized that the reason I am so vested in all of these articles is that they reflect one common theme and that is the hope that can be found within the human spirit.

” It is the hope of the collective efforts of all of us, contributing in our own personal ways, which will bring about the answers and the solutions and until that time comes, we owe it to ourselves and to each other to do the best that we can to always provide hope for the future.”Barbara Jacoby

I can’t tell you how many times I have been moved to tears when someone shares what they endured in order to do a walk to raise funds for cancer research when they physically should not even have been able to do so. And, how about the little girl who has set up a lemonade stand to sell pink lemonade to donate funds in memory of her grandmother who died from breast cancer. I just love to hear about the local merchants who get together to host an event for women who are dealing with chemo and need help with wigs or hair styling for hair that they are losing or growing back as well as skin care and makeup assistance. The lists go on and on and the ideas are incredibly creative and supportive.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that whether a person is a cancer survivor or someone who is a loved one of a person who is dealing with or who has dealt with breast cancer, the one factor that continues their drive is hope to help the person and to support whatever it takes to make this the last generation that will ever have to deal with breast cancer.

We all want to remember those who gave everything to live with cancer in the hope that if they could fight long enough and hard enough, they might be able to survive long enough for a cure to be found. There isn’t a parent who doesn’t want for their daughters to never have to deal with the loss and devastation done by breast cancer and so we all continue to work together to help in any way that we can in order to make a difference.

I am one of the lucky ones. I had fantastic care and have now been cancer-free for more than 16 years but I could never walk away from the breast cancer world as long as others are still steeped in the daily fight to become survivors, too, for as long as possible. I look around and find that the greatest warriors are those who have been touched by breast cancer in a very intimate way. I know that I have always said that I do not want to be defined by my having had cancer but that doesn’t mean that I will ever forget the road that needs to be traveled for those who have known this disease.

I know that if it were not for the help and support that each of us has gotten from our family members and friends and other members of our personal worlds, our personal outcomes may have been different. And I know that we are all in this life and in this world together and there is so much more than the individual. It is the hope of the collective efforts of all of us, contributing in our own personal ways, which will bring about the answers and the solutions and until that time comes, we owe it to ourselves and to each other to do the best that we can to always provide hope for the future.