Fighting Cancer: Using the Resources

I am moved and humbled after spending this weekend at the Cancer as a Turning Point conference in Seattle. The speakers and performers were incredible, all having been touched by cancer, many having survived monumental struggles for life. It was awestriking.

How do people do it? We all talk about supporting our troops in Iraq, hang yellow ribbons, stage marches and welcome-ins for those returning. Their courage in the face of incredible heat, IEDs, snipers...we all wonder how we could survive. They are visible, in the news every day.

Yet a million people a year in this country go into a terrible place of cancer, have body parts removed, endure toxic "juice" pumping into their bodies, and grapple with the ever-present dark shadow of death. Their tour of duty is often at least a year, sometimes much longer. And there's no guarantee of ultimate success.

This conference is a glorious way of supporting those troops, the cancer troops, their loved ones and health professionals. No one can listen to these stories and not be deeply moved. Cancer is a changing disease, it changes everyone it touches in profound and sometimes surprising ways.

For those who are in the struggle right now, so many people, speakers and participants, offered tremendous hope for the possibilities of life with and through cancer. There were so many people there who had been given six months or a year to live, and were telling about it years after the grim pronouncements. They talked about how hard it was, how scared they were, what it took to survive and rebuild their lives.

For me, there was too much to process in one day. I know what i experienced will continue to change me and will show up on the pages of this blog. For now,

All the best,
Judith Frost, MSW
The Cancer Coach
www.cancer-coach.com