The Found Year!

(One woman’s victorious and uplifting letter to her friends and family as she enters the next stage - as a cancer survivor!)


Dear family and friends,

Today was an exciting day.  I had my LAST chemo infusion!  Woohoo! (Insert music from the Amazing Race here) 15 months of chemo, 3 surgeries, 5 weeks of daily radiation, hair loss (and thankfully regrown), joint pain, and a host of other unmentionable side effects - and today, I get to start a new journey of a cancer survivor!

At the Preschool where I work, the two year olds often take nature walks around our beautiful facility.  As they look through their toilet paper tube binoculars, everything is new and exciting for them.  I always find such great joy, watching these little people discover the world around them with such fresh eyes and hearts.  I started thinking that I kind of feel the same about myself at this juncture - looking at my own life with a fresh, new set of eyes.  Finding joy in the simple uncomplicated things.  A gift and a blessing (is that the same thing?).

Some that have walked in my shoes call the year of treatment, "The Lost Year".  I am calling it "The Found Year"!  I have found a new appreciation for my family and friends, I have found new priorities in my life, I have found that the small stuff is not worth sweating over, and  I have found that our God is an awesome God who has met me wherever I am in my journey and given me comfort and strength to push through.  I have found much more than I have lost.

What is next?  The Dr's will continue to monitor me quarterly for the next few years.  Now it is time to get on with living my life!  We have a fun and busy summer planned and I am excited to move forward!

Thank you to everyone for all the love and support you have provided - If I have not thanked you personally, please know that I am soooo grateful for every meal, gift, act of kindness, drive-by honk (I hear them!), carpool, phone call, good thought and prayer!

Love you all-