Strong. Fighting. Surviving.

Lloyd:  Just give it to me straight. I’ve come a long way just to see you, Mary, the least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary:  Not good.
Lloyd:  You mean not good, like one out of a hundred?
Mary:  I’d say more like one out of a million.
Lloyd:  So you’re telling me […]

I love the word nestled. It conjures up images of down comforters, flannel pjs, and good books. It’s also very similar to Nestlé - makers of all things chocolate - need I say more?
Right now, I’m nestled nicely within my current chemo treatment. I’ve been on this schedule since December and it consists of an […]

But beware: they are online crack.

I’d like to make the Ugly Shoes Team a tradition, and hope that I have the privilege to stand in front of the crowd as a survivor for many years to come.

I could have easily written about this topic, but felt it deserved more attention than my usual posts. The first time I heard the phrase ‘Touched by Cancer’ was at my mom’s funeral. She was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1999 and passed away in 2001. I’ll never forget hearing the minister use that phrase to […]

I was sitting at a stoplight and she walked right in front of my bumper. She looked tired and drained, relieved that Monday was finally over. I tried to envision her job and pictured her as a receptionist (I was a receptionist for about three months and hated every minute of it). I thought about […]

(Okay, so I’m recycling something I wrote for PanCAN’s Web site. I’m just so tickled to see it on their site.)
Devastating.One word to describe the overwhelming realization that PanCAN’s Survivor and Caregiver Network did not contain any volunteers who had metastases in all the same locations as I. I spent hours reading and rereading […]

As far as colors go, purple is okay. I’ve always preferred green and think that Barney is partially to blame for my discrimination against purple. Many months ago I received a purple bracelet in the mail. I didn’t think much about it and threw it in one of our various junk drawers. After all, if […]

It’s not a suggestion or a request. It’s firm, yet gentle and leaves no room for doubt.
I’ve spent hours concentrating on it, coaxing it into existence. It’s with me wherever I go. I see it when I’m stuck in traffic or in a long meeting. Like a scrolling screen saver, it slowly creeps across my […]

A humble and heartfelt hi to everyone. Humble because, as you will quickly learn, this is my shameless plea for money. Heartfelt because that’s how I seem to be living my life these days.
This story is divided into two parts: the first half is me begging for money for PanCAN’s Annual TeamHOPE Walk, the second […]