“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 […]
“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 […]
“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 […]
“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 […]
“My Voice” by Jane Haden
I felt I was starting to go mad, sick of having this constant aching pain in my left arm and feeling like my body weighed a tone, everything seemed such an effort. It wasn’t that I didn’t exercise; I loved dancing from an early age and did different kinds of classes as well as doing […]
“My Voice” by Alyssa Schiller
Let’s start out with my vital statistics – I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29 in 2005. I don’t remember all the verbiage used to describe it and haven’t cared enough to go back and look either. It required that I have a mastectomy, chemo and radiation – I opted to have my […]
“My Voice” by Cindy Haskett
Breast Cancer – I have to say I never thought I would have to deal with that. And if I did, I thought it would be when I was old and had already lived a long life. When you’re 36 and healthy you don’t think you could be affected by such a thing. So when […]
“My Voice” by Michelle O’Rourke
Let me start by saying that I am a 35 year old mother, wife, daughter, niece, cousin and friend to some of the most amazing people you will ever meet. After that I am a “survivor” and cancer patient. When I was asked to write this I was given the instructions to be honest and […]
“My Voice” by Deborah Kanter
Remember the song with the line, “I am a warrior”? I am. Yes, I am a cancer survivor but just being a survivor is not enough. Since that day in April 1999 when what I had long suspected—cancer- was uttered by a gastroenterologist, I became Deborah-Survivor-Warrior. And basically, despite my holistic nature and fondness for […]
“My Voice” by Marilyn Blundin
Survivor: (noun) one who outlives another; an animal that survives in spite of adversity; a living organism characterized by voluntary movement; a human being. Visual Thesaurus, Ver.3 The word ‘cancer’ isn’t found in this definition for survivor—however both words are encapsulated in the definition “ human being’, simply part and parcel of life. And in […]
“My Voice” by Nicole McLean
All of my life, I’ve been really blessed to be in pretty good health. Aside from a few scrapes and bruises — and one broken arm when I was six — I’ve spent very little time in doctor’s offices or at the hospital. Not so much as an allergy or hay-fever to slow me down. […]
“My Voice” by Diane Huddleston
My name is Diane and I am a 4 time cancer survivor! For me to be able to write that is a MIRACLE! I feel so blessed to say I am a survivor. My story began by being born as a premature twin weighing only 3lbs. and 14 oz. about 2 months early so right […]
“My Voice” by Kelly Ruszala
At the age of 22 I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called Medulloblastoma. I’m proud to say that I’m a 5 ½ year survivor who has achieved every milestone doctors have set for me…and then some! May 18th, 2003. After being misdiagnosed three times with everything from a sinus infection to TMJ, I […]
“My Voice” by Ed Keelan
My story begins on August of 2001 in the Operating Room. I was a Surgical Tech working with an ENT doc and in the middle of the procedure he looks up at me and says, “You know you have a lump on your neck. You need to get that checked out because that can be […]
“My Voice” by Lisa Boylan (revisited)
For two months, I was lost. I had prepared myself for the immediate recovery after a major surgery, but did not take it seriously when told I needed to plan for the long-term. Cancer is scary. Surgery is brutal. Recovery is all-over-the-place. I planned to be out-of-commission for about six weeks (although my doctor had […]
“My Voice” by George Giefer, Jr.
Just a brief story as to how this tumor was found… It was a mid-summer afternoon, and I like any 4 year old boy would do, was playing outside without a shirt on. When I came inside after playing, my mom noticed some unusual “shading” on the upper right part of my back. There were […]
“My Voice” by Francesca Giessmann
I was young.. on the top of the world. Hard work had payed off and I had just started a thriving consulting business. My 3 year old son, out of diapers, was turning into this incredible little creature that I wanted to get to know and spend more time with. My beloved husband by my […]
“My Voice” by Donna Zurick
My story officially began on January 20, 2005- I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. However, symptoms had been creeping up on me for the past few years. I was lucky, my doctor said, and soon I would realize it was a common practice to tell Thyroid Cancer patients that we had the “best cancer there […]
