Archive for December, 2009

“My Voice” by Nick Smart

"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

"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

"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

"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

“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

“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

"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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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: […]