It was the day of my son’s senior prom. I was 44 years old. Newly separated and raising 2 teenagers on my own. I was getting dressed to go meet my son and his date for pictures. That’s when I saw the lump. It was big enough for me to see it as I walked past the mirror. I touched it and instinctively knew I had cancer.

Surgical recovery and then treatment were difficult at best. But the lessons I learned were invaluable. The people that showed up for me was invigorating. It truly restored my faith in humanity.

Never being one to ask for help, cancer put me in the position of learning to be open to the help that was being offered. Accepting help was humbling and life changing. I began connecting with people on a whole different level. I felt their compassion for me. Never in my life had I felt such intense gratitude. I learned to slow down. I began seeing things with wonder in my eyes. I saw beauty everywhere I looked.

Looking in the mirror after my hair fell out I saw a human working on my humanity. It was surreal looking at myself with no hair. Some days I wore a wig and somedays I wore a hat.

The hardest thing I dealt with were my children. It took my son weeks to look at me with no hair. My daughter asked if she would get cancer. But the 3 of us pushed through. We spent lots of time together laughing, talking, cooking. They stepped up so much that some days I told them to go hang out with their friends and not to worry about me for a few hours. They were my caregivers, my taxi service, and what I survived for.

I’m now 9 years cancer free. Newly married. My kids have kids of their own that my husband and I love spending time with.

I survived and thrived, and you can too!