Rising from the ashes of your tumor

Cancer isn't just something that happens to you, It attacks each and every part of your life until you can hardly remember what being healthy feels like. Despite that, every day I hear stories of people who have taken a terrible situation and made something beautiful from it. My hope is renewed as I read about charities started by the very same individuals that could have benefited from them years ago, now paying it forward for future generations of cancer patients needing support and resources. Paralympic athletes are snowboarding their way to gold medals after losing a leg to cancer, as children with limb differences watch on, eyes wide and sparkling. The biggest lesson cancer teaches all of us is that every morning we get the luxury of opening our eyes is a chance to make an impact. Time to rise up from the ashes of our tumor and live a life not defined by the beast but instead by how we helped others and soaked up every ounce of life we were blessed with.

The cancer community isn't just my favorite because they can relate to my quarterly scanxiety and the sheer terror of throbbing pain where your primary tumor once lived; they are my favorite because they have figured out the secret to life. They have lived through enough fear and sickness to understand that time is worth its weight in rubies and it isn't worth wasting on things that don't spark joy or lift up those around you.

It manifests in different ways. Maybe you dye your hair hot pink and make it your mission to ride the front row of every roller coaster in the world, or maybe you start a blog and share your inner thoughts and struggles with people who need to feel understood. No matter how you choose to rise from those ashes, there is no elevator; it's more like an upwards leap of faith that, if you're bold enough to take, will let you break free of the cage cancer put you in and allow you to reach new heights. Resilient as the phoenix, unstoppable as the survivor.