“My Voice” by Sandy Beebe
I used to wear the color lavender… I used to sew patches of fabric into beautiful quilts… I used to wear my hair shorter sometimes and it used to be darker brown… I used to read books about people filled with drama and heartache… I used to be very shy… I used to want to […]
“My Voice” by Dawn Edens
My name is Dawn Edens and I AM a CANCER SURVIVOR! I am a crazy, sexy cancer goddess. I survived stage III Diffused Large B Cell Lymphoma (Non Hodgkins). I just turned 40 and am a single mom of an 11 year old son, soon to be married in April 2010. I live in Coeur […]
“My Voice” by Colleen Marlett
My story of survival I believe started at the time of my birth. Although I won’t take you down that long and winding road I will tell you it has been one hell of a journey. I was adopted at birth by a wonderfully loving and nurturing family. They are my family through and through. […]
“My Voice” by Christine LeGrant
Years ago, I attended a rally for patients’ rights. Among the demonstrators I saw groups of cancer survivors carrying signs and chanting, some with their surgical scars showing. I had worked for many years as an oncology nurse and was, at the time, a physician assistant working in an HIV/AIDS clinic. I knew many people […]
“My Voice” by Ray Hebert
One day I got a note from the company that I worked for. The gist was, to provide more benefits to you we have decided to double the amount we charge you for insurance and of by the way triple the deductible. Oh I felt so thrilled to be offered this great opportunity. So off […]
“My Voice” by Diana Parker
My name is Diana Parker, I live in Ohio. I am 47 years old; I was diagnosed when I was 44. My story begins a lot like everyone else’s, go in to get something checked, and the doctor said honey I’m sorry you have breast cancer. I was diagnosed with stage 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma […]
“My Voice” by Angie Suttles
This is My Story In 1998, after being treated for what I was told was just an “infection,” I was diagnosed at the age of 31 with a rare vulva cancer, which had invaded one lymph node in my pelvic area. Following radical surgery, I was given radiation to the area and told that I […]
“My Voice” by Jason DeSousa
What does it mean to be a survivor? It means there is a bright future ahead of you. It means that you are one of the lucky ones and you have a unique perspective on life. Some may not see it that way, especially those recently diagnosed. I was diagnosed 21 years ago and I […]
“My Voice” by Angela Van Treuren
I am just three months into my cancer journey, and I know that I am already a survivor! I had no symptoms, I had no signs that anything was going on. On September 11, 2009 I went in for my routine annual physical, on September 18 I received the call that something was abnormal. On […]
“My Voice” by Debbie Cook
It has been a little more than 19 months that I received my 2nd diagnosis of breast cancer. On April 11th, 2008 the diagnosis was a triple negative, invasive ductile carcinoma, Stage 3. This time it was more aggressive and I had a very aggressive 2 rounds of chemo and a mastectomy. Thirteen years ago I had been […]
“My Voice” by Donna Trussell
At first surviving meant putting one foot in front of the other. After surgery I was on painkillers, but sometimes reality would break through the fog. And that reality was: You have cancer. You’re stage III. You may die soon. I knew how to be me – I’d been doing it all my life. I […]
“My Voice” by Andrew Gemmell
I still remember March 26th 2008 like it was yesterday, it was a month before my 22nd birthday and I was exhausted from work. Being so tired, I had decided to go to bed rather early the night before. Unfortunately, sleeping was something I was not going to be doing a lot of that night. […]
“My Voice” by Cassie Stewart
December 28, 2007 will always be a strange day for me, that’s the day they found my lymphoma. I’d had bronchitis about two weeks before Christmas and even after finishing the antibiotics I didn’t feel better. Two days after Christmas my sister and I were shopping. I coughed really hard and felt something move in […]
“My Voice” by Steve Schoger
What it means to me to be a co-survivor? In my video I said that being a survivor meant conquering the disease. I didn’t mean to be smug. All survivors know that cancer can rear its ugly head and bite when we are least expecting it. And I realize that there are others that may […]
“My Voice” by Jody Schoger
Growing up in southwestern New York and Iowa left me with a deep connection to the world of living things. My brothers, sister and I would spent hours outside – from building castles and forts in the woods to sliding into mud puddles when the rain fell just right. Early on I loved the changing […]
“My Voice” by Nick Smart
I don’t feel I can take much, if any, credit for my survivor status. I don’t feel I won a battle with cancer. I don’t really feel that I fought a battle with cancer; a battle did take place, but it was fought on my behalf by others with me as a passive beneficiary. The […]
“My Voice” by Sterling Wilson
July 2007 saw one of my twin sons and myself hiking for four days up to Machu Piccu, Peru (over 14,000 feet). At the time I thought this was probably the toughest thing I have done in my life. Then a month later I lost my appetite and decided to go get a physical. What […]
“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 […]
