Today, I celebrate two years of being cancer free! On Tuesday, April 4, 2017, I received the greatest news a person could receive but that news also came with great responsibility. My surgeon delivered the news to me personally at about ten o’clock at night. She told me they could not find any trace of cancer in the tumor they removed, nor did they find any trace of cancer in the six lymph nodes they removed!
I was ecstatic, as anyone would be! I thought of all the things I was going to do, the places I was going to go and the people I was going to see. I thought about the risks I would now take and the challenges I would face and overcome. If cancer couldn’t stop me then I was unstoppable! I was humbled though with future health challenges and a dear friend who was on her own journey that reminded me “…we’re never cancer free dear, we’re in remission.” And so the true journey began.
No one told me the life after cancer would be what it is for me today. Before cancer came into my life, I thought cancer free meant when a person was deemed cancer free, they moved on with their lives and went on to the next thing, the next challenge, the next adventure…CHECK…beat cancer…done…close the book!!! Not quite…I soon found out!
So with the challenges of neuropathy, bone pain, weakened immune system, decreasing vision, weight gain, taste bud changes, yadda…yadda…I have learned to accept that my life after cancer will forever be different and that I will learn to live within my new normal. I am one of the fortunate ones, I am one who has a life to speak about and I am one who must choose to stay positive as I was during the roughest parts of this journey.
One thing I have learned through this journey is that I have a purpose in this life. I knew I had one before cancer, but I continued to search for it, pray for it, and at times, thought up my purpose. In my life after my diagnosis and these two years in remission, I have realized my POWER OF ASSIGNMENT. As I move through life now, I see so many examples of how I have not lived. I am so appreciative of this chance and so glad the world didn’t start without me today. My assignment is to live and to share my journey with others. I am to give back to my community and ensure that anyone I come into contact with gets the best of me, positive, encouraging, inspiring.
Cancer has provided me with the power to ensure I inform and educate those who ask about my journey or those who don’t. My assignment is my purpose that found me. The power is the strength I have to not fear what’s ahead or look back and feel sorrow. I am a SURVIVOR, a WARRIOR, a CONQUEROR! The Power of my Assignment came the day I was diagnosed and will continue throughout my life.
My Cancer Wisdom to You: Sometimes your purpose will find you as an assignment. Take heed and follow through, no matter the challenge, it’s for you!
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