“My Voice” by Cyndy Sotomayor
I had a feeling something was wrong. I had always been a fireball of energy and activity, but something was “off” and I just couldn’t figure it out. I was always tired. Not normal everyday tired, but tired with a crushing fatigue that sleep didn’t seem to help. I barely had an appetite, and when […]
“My Voice” by Amy Baker
March 18th was my one-year “cancer-versary”. One year to the day that Dr. Ashikari called to tell me “there is a cancer there”. Five simple words. Life changing words. And, maybe, there is nothing simple about them at all. That was the day my “journey” officially began. Informally, of course, it had begun three weeks […]
“My Voice” by Melanie Singh
It has been 1 ½ years since I got that awful phone call. Survivor Sisters & Brothers, you know the one I’m talking about… I was 35 years old, and I’d never given breast cancer a second thought. That was something that happened to other women – not me. Nobody in my family had ever […]
“My Voice” by Linda Ockwell-Jenner
As I get ready to walk out onto the stage, in front of 500 breast cancer survivors, I think back to a time when I had no idea I would be standing here today about to inspire others with my story. I really did not like working at the shoe store, but I had to […]
“My Voice” by Hayley Townley
Cancer is my Kryptonite Kryptonite, as you may know, was Superman’s weakness. Cancer in all its forms is my Kryptonite. In 1991, I lost my Mom to breast cancer. She was 47; I was 25. She had been battling it since she was 37. In 2002, at age 36, I was diagnosed with Stage 3B […]
“My Voice” by Sarah Jones
It was ongoing anemia that brought me to a hematologist, and also the first word out of his mouth on the day of my diagnosis: “Anemia. Well, you have a kind of anemia that is unresponsive to treatment.” Listening. “You have refractory anemia.” Still listening. Snap judgment: doesn’t sound too scary. “It is very unusual […]
“My Voice” by Tricia Keegan
I was away from home on business when I found the lump one morning in the summer of 2005 while showering. There’s no history of breast cancer in my family and I found it quite by accident, I recall it took a great deal of determination and focus to get through my work and meetings […]
“My Voice” by Angie Sanchez
Cancer runs in my family, though not in first degree relatives. My grandfather died of lung cancer. My second cousin on mom’s side was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 45, and died at 49. Herceptin wasn’t around yet. She was brilliant and young, I miss her. Her mother passed not long after from breast […]
“My Voice” by Mark Porter
I was driving in my car on May 3rd, 1998 when I felt a dull ache in my groin. It felt like a bit of cramp, so I wasn’t too worried about it. The following day, when I got up, the ache was back. With every day that passed the pain increased. After about a […]
“Remembering a Friend, Mike Tufo” by Lynn Lane
I’m not going to edit this, these words are meant to be just what they are…my thoughts at this very moment….a stream of consciousness writing about a friend. Today I ask that we take a moment, not of silence but of celebration, to remember one of the most amazing ‘Survivors’ whom I have ever met: […]
“My Voice” by Kristin King
“Where do you turn when there’s nowhere to go Can’t escape the fear deep down in your soul It paralyzes your heart, stops you in your tracks No one can save you, your future looks black” *Lyrics from ‘No Surrender’ by Dichroic Glass, © 2007 I was 37 years old, happily living life with my […]
“My Voice” by Dorienne Plait
What in the world is a thyroid, anyway? I hardly understand anything my doctors are telling me. Thyroiditis? Nodules? Papillary Carcinoma? Excuse me, but I’m only 17. Can you put these terms more simply, please? And can you stop poking and prodding me and tell me what the hell is wrong with me? I feel […]
“My Voice” by Dr. Stan Steinberg
I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in 1975 after accidentally swallowing a staple. I was a freshman in college and thought I had the flu, so I had stayed home from school for a few days. A fraternity brother had copied his class notes for me. On Friday afternoon I sat and read the notes […]
“My Voice” by Danielle Nealis
I never realized that I would have a story. It kind of came out of nowhere. About a year after my second daughter was born, I had gotten a hernia that needed repairing. During that repair, the surgeon found a tumor, which was biopsied and sent to Atlanta for diagnosis, since no one at my […]
“Self Advocacy” by Mike Tufo
“Self Advocacy” in “High Quality” Medical Institutions and the importance of making YOUR VOICE heard. An Essay on medical “ignorance” when in a facility “unfamiliar” with YOUR medical history. By Michael D. Tufo, R.T.(CT) ARRT (Synovial Sarcoma/Lung Mets “Survivor” and Medical Imaging Professional.) TO begin with: I have been in the field of Medical Imaging […]
“My Last Two Weeks” by Lynn Lane
I will preface this by saying that I’m writing this in a stream of consciousness with zero editing because that’s how I feel right now. I just want to see what comes out and be as honest as I can in the process. I’m writing this on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 after my day of […]
“My Voice” by Heather Dziczek
I was 31 years old, working out at the gym – something I had finally started doing regularly about 10 months earlier after a largely sedentary life – and had some trouble breathing. While this wasn’t normal for me, it was easy to dismiss since I was exercising. A few days later, when I had […]
“My Voice” by Elaine Koogler
I really truly hate cancer. I hate it because it has not only altered my life (and my body) as a result of four bouts with the disease, but because it has deprived me…and by extension, the world…of the wisdom, enthusiasm, talents and love of those I have lost to cancer. I have even lost […]
“My Voice” by Lisa Boylan
I can now add ‘cancer’ to the long list of things that have defined me. Other things, such as; receptionist for a world-renowned rock band; local television spokes-model; designer of surfing t-shirt’s – those things were much more fun … however they probably didn’t shape me in the way cancer is shaping me now. My […]
“My Voice” by Glenn Gleason
In April of 2007, I was a pretty busy 38 year old guy. I was running Sales and Marketing for a regional Pennsylvania homebuilder, putting in long days and burning the candle pretty hard. I was having some chest pains that I could not figure out and I went to see my Doctor and she […]
“My Voice” by Willette Northup
My cancer journey started Friday, March 13, 2009. I couldn’t believe it, yes Friday the 13th of all days. The month previously I went to my primary care physician and was told that the 4 day migraine that I was experiencing was simply just a sinus infection and was treated for a sinus infection. I […]
“My Voice” by Kim Ferranto
Being a two time cancer survivor before the age of 40 was not “in the plan”. My husband, Pete, and I grew up together. We’ve known one another for 30 years. We are best friends and soul mates, married since 1992. Our children at the time were 9, 7 and 2. Everything was moving along […]
“My Voice” by Nick O’Hara Smith
It was April 1988 and I’d just woken up mad as hell, because I’d failed in an attempt on my life. I’d not taken the decision to end my life flippantly. After all, I’d just survived Cancer, having just been declared Cancer free at the end of my treatment. Life should have been good, but […]
The Story of Founding “Yes” by Executive Director: Suzanne Lindley
Cancer. Stage IV colon cancer. Eleven years ago these were words that filled my life with fear. They evoked thoughts of suffering. A bald head. Nausea. Fatigue. And even death. In the years since those words and my life first intertwined, I’ve learned that other things cause greater fear, that suffering is not what I’ve done, that bald heads can be covered – […]
