“My Voice” by Wendy Schwartz
At the end of 2003, I was at my gynecologist for a routine checkup. The doctor pressed on my abdomen and said “I think you have uterine fibroids. I want you to get an ultra sound.” At the time, I had no idea that those words would only be the beginning of a very long [...]
“My Voice” by Gayle Weisman
Today we share the words of an old friend of the “Voices of Survivors Foundation” and an amazing Poet as well as ‘Survivor’, Gayle Weisman. Gayle shared some of her work with us in June of 2009 and I thought it would be great to revisit with Gayle’s words again today and share three more [...]
“My Voice” by Betsy de Parry
On January 7, 2002, cancer called. Literally. I was driving on the interstate thinking about the goals I wanted to accomplish during the new year when my cell phone rang. Three little words, “We suspect lymphoma,” crashed over me with the force of the semi traveling next to me. And they replaced my grandiose goals [...]
“My Voice” by Christina Olachia
I was diagnosed with Triple Negative, stage 2, node positive Breast Cancer in 2006 at the age of 32. Life changed for not just me, but for my family. I was dumbfounded, taken back as I had my feet knocked right out from under me. How could this happen? I was so young. My life [...]
“My Voice” by April Capil
Cancer came at the most inopportune time – after I had moved 3,000 miles from home to start a cacao farm on an island in the middle of the Pacific. After the bailout contracted my local economy and plummeted the value of my newly-planted dream property on said island. After my online business closed its [...]
“My Voice” by Jenny Gray
I could tell by the look on the doctor’s face! I knew the answer before he had even said anything.
“I am very sorry Jenny but the leukemia has returned”.
I stopped looking at Doctor Caswell and looked at my mum, she started to cry and all I could think of was how hard it is going [...]
“My Voice” by Donald Wilhelm
What does it mean to me to be a survivor?
It’s a private club that I’m extremely proud to belong to. Although the initiation to get into the survivors club stinks, I feel a kindred bond with folks with similar experiences, even though I may never have met them.
Further, I feel like I am blessed because [...]
“My Voice” by Arlene Quezada
“It’s not about how hard you can hit but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward”
At seventeen years old, as I was beginning to evolve into a young woman, my life changed, and it changed forever. In November of 2002, I was diagnosed with Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma, a brain tumor located in [...]
“My Voice” by Andy Coles
You could say my experience as a ‘survivor’ started 6 months after my conception. I was born 3 months premature, weighing in at a weedy 2lb 6oz; the doctors rushing me into the ICU early on Christmas Eve, 1975. My parents have always said that I was just impatient to get out because I didn’t [...]
“My Voice” by Sandra Miceli
In March 2005, I fell at work and as a result, I needed knee surgery and I had really hurt my back. After a lot of x-rays and physio, it was decided that they couldn’t do anything for my back and that I had to learn to live with my pain. After a few months, I went back [...]
“My Voice” by Eric North
At 17, I was enrolled as a full time college student. My life was coming together. When I started to notice that I was short of breath, tired and just overall exhausted from doing normal activities. I woke up one morning and my throat hurt so bad that I couldn’t swallow anything. Ignoring all of [...]
“My Voice” by Roger Rojas
CANCER SURVIVOR/FAMILY MAN
What does being a cancer survivor mean to me? In two words my family, I have had them as my personal inspiration throughout my long and hard journey. My wife and three beautiful children have been the balance in my life when it seemed that the weight was just too hard to bear. [...]
“My Voice” by Alma Nelly
I am a survivor… that I know for sure. When did I become one? I haven’t a clue. It could have been that dreadful day when I was diagnosed with cancer; it could have been 9 months later when I was declared cancer free; or, it could have been when I reached the celebrated five [...]
“My Voice” by Jill Feldman
I knew I was at high risk. But, I’m still in shock and the diagnosis is still so surreal; as if it were written into a script–except who would believe that the president of a lung cancer organization, a healthy 39 year old mother of four, with my family history, would actually get lung cancer! [...]
“My Voice” by Erika Hanson Brown
“Life Elevated”
It’s been 7 years, 8 months, and 2 days since the Labor Day Weekend in 2002 since I awaited word from my newly-met surgeon with confirmation that we had an operating room assigned for my upcoming surgery. This life-saving surgery would remove – ultimately – a foot or more of my tumor-burdened colon and [...]
“My Voice” by Jaimie Mattes
It’s February 1993, I am in my senior year of college and I started my first job as a Hotel Sales and Catering Manager across from campus and I started to have irregular bowel movements within a couple of weeks of starting the job. I attributed it to the stress of the new job and [...]
“My Voice” by Dr. Paul Nottoli
Diagnosis: On Oct 1, 1986 at the age of 4 I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). I had been getting sick off and on for a few weeks and bruising easily but I would recover and just be a pretty normal kid. My parents knew something was wrong but weren’t exactly sure. We [...]
“My Voice” by Paula Shelton
First, I never ever thought I would be here or that I would be a “survivor”. I always do the Susan Komen runs each year and send money in to support the Livestrong foundation and I even wear my yellow band…
But last February, February 26th to be exact was when my life changed. That was [...]
“My Voice” by Jessica Rodgers
In May of 2006, I graduated college with my Master of Arts in Teaching. I was ready to get into the real world of teaching, move out on my own, and begin my new adult life. Little did I know, a month later, the future I had mapped out was about to take a huge [...]
“My Voice” by Diane Martin
I WANT TO REALLY LIVE BEFORE I DIE
My Nan and Granddad Christmas had three sets of twins, with my mother being a twin, she met my father who was also a twin they had me and my twin sister Kathy. Within my mother’s family aunties, uncles and cousins there has been 7 types of cancer [...]
“My Voice” by Aalia Bleibel
My grandmother was this amazing woman that worked, cooked dinner for my grandfather daily, and maintained an immaculately clean home. There were no acceptable excuses for not performing these duties as a wife and a mother. I did not see her raise her children of course, but I have family photos of my mother and [...]
“My Voice” by Rosie Blankenship
Like most Irish-Americans, I feel like St. Patrick’s Day is a fun little holiday that was created just for me! I spent most of my school years in a St. Patrick School, which gave us a great excuse to make March 17 a really special day. We learned Irish-American songs. We looked forward to our [...]
“My Voice” by Stacey Owens
Let me paint a picture for you: You’re a 20-year-old college student. You are just winding down an amazing summer, and getting ready to go back to school to start your junior year. Getting all of your routine doctors appointments out of the way, before you have to jump on a plane to the east [...]
“My Voice” by Paula McCoy
In May of 2006, I was preparing to move out of province, where I would have work. I was living at home at the time; however, life planned it differently.
June 5, 2006 is a day that will always remain in my mind as the day that my life changed forever. I was just told that [...]
