For many of us, cancer is a long game characterized by innovative treatments giving us months, years, and sometimes decades of extra life. The good news is that the conversation has changed from planning for death to living with cancer.
But don’t kid yourself; the long game is fraught with perils and isn’t for the feint-hearted. Our calendars are peppered with appointments for lab tests, CAT scans, pet scans, MRIs and doctor appointments, bottles of contrast sitting on refrigerator shelves - constant reminders that we spend every day out-running a persistent, and deadly enemy, one that morphs into different shapes and forms, determined to overthrow its host.
People have asked how I could be spending my retirement writing two novels and working on my third with the cancer guillotine hanging over my head. For me, it’s a two-fold strategy in my personal race against time: staying positive and finding meaningful enjoyment in each day; and staying productive, with a vocation requiring more mental stamina than physical.
We cancer survivors have a deep appreciation for life and gratitude for those who helped us stay in the game. It’s no small matter, and many of us do our bit by speaking one on one with the newly diagnosed, sharing our journeys with medical students to raise their awareness of early disease symptoms and by raising money for research. But mostly, since we are well enough to be fully involved and push off a fear of death that is no longer imminent, we attempt to rejoin the bigger pack, enjoying the long game of living.
So, I ask you again, for the 15th year, to support those like me who fight to make the long game a healthy long lasting one, to fight for ways to detect cancer earlier, and to help our brilliant researchers discover cures.
Please use the link below to support the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance through the Matilda Fund. Join me in helping reach my long-term individual goal of $100,000 in contributions. In September, I plan to donate my royalties from IN THE HANDS OF WOMEN and THREADBARE to the Mathilda Fund.
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