On March 20, 2008, I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. I was 35 years old. With no family history of any kind of cancer, I was completely unprepared for my new role as cancer patient. Life became a blur and the safe boundary that I once lived in was now intruded by physical exams, anxiety and tears. At the time, my daughter was 6 and my twins were 3. Clearly, this was not the ideal season for me to be sick. Once the surgeries and therapy started, my house became a gathering place. Family and friends were in and out daily shuffling kids, bringing meals, cleaning house and running errands. The blessings we received during that first year were the greatest acts of kindness we have ever experienced as a family.
Sometime during my second year as cancer patient, I began to read everything I could get my hands on related to living beyond cancer. I knew my cancer was not genetic and I didn’t have any other risk factors that I knew of. I filled my brain with books and literature on anti-cancer living; specifically how I could help my body defend itself against cancer. I transitioned our grocery lists from process to whole. I started practicing yoga and meditation. I prayed fervently. I wanted to live and had to live. Thus, began my quest for healthy living.
Living for wellness has filled me with hope. Hope that my shell, my body, might continue to live fully. Hope that I might live to see my children grow. And hope that I may make a difference in helping others learn about their health potential. My prayer requests which once consisted of pleads to see my children through adolescence, now look towards growing old with my husband and seeing my children marry and have children. Every year passed is a gift. Having hope is a gift. That’s not to say I don’t struggle, because I do. My neighbor Worry still creeps into my mind often. And, I know that great faith does not worry, but Oh that is so hard for me. As I write this, I worry about the back pain that I have had for almost 4 months. I am now about to have my 4th scan of sort to locate the origin. Will my neighbor Worry ever move away? Probably not. But, my faith keeps me grounded and knowledge keeps me hopeful.
So, why a blog….? Anticancer Amy was the vision of my sister Jessica and my friend Tara. They encouraged me to spread my wings and soar. I had been trying to ‘fix’ others with my newfound knowledge of anticancer living. Emails frequently went out about the latest study on nutrition or why everyone needs yoga. It must have been the social worker in me, always searching for a resource, a referral, an answer. In the end, I agreed to the blog and the rest is yet to be written. My hope for Anticancer Amy is to be a tool for you or someone you know as you live for wellness. I am not credentialed in any way on nutrition or holistic healing, but I am a survivor looking for a way to share and organize the knowledge I am learning. I make mistakes (a lot of them) so don’t look at me as your teacher. Look at me as your resource junkie!
Now Onward!
