Monday, May 30, 2011

MONDAY MOTIVATION - Live Strong

I recently received some material from LiveStrong - Lance Armstrong's Cancer group. I took some time to read through the guidebook, and found the LiveStrong Manifesto. It touched me, and got me thinking. I'd like to share a few lines here:

"We believe in life. We believe in living every minute of it with every ounce of your being. You must not let cancer take control of it. We believe in energy: channeled and fierce. We believe in focus: getting smart and living strong. You're in the fight of your life. And we know the fight never ends. Cancer may leave your body, but it never leaves your life."

We believe in living every minute of it with every ounce of your being - there is a woman that lives somewhere near me, who walks every single day. She walks with the help of a walker-type thing. She walks in spring, summer, fall, and winter. There is rarely a day that I don't see her out walking. And I'm pretty sure she is fighting against some terrible disease. She looks very thin, and at times has had no hair. I noticed her before I was diagnosed, and wondered what the story was. I watched her all through my cancer journey - trying to figure out how she had the strength to leave the house and exercise every day. I still see her. It just amazes me. Whenever I catch her eye, she smiles and waves. When I read this line in the LiveStrong manifesto, I thought of her. She obviously believes in living every minute of every day with every ounce of her strength. I wish I would have been like her during my chemo. I think I would have healed faster. What an inspiration she is.

We believe in energy: channeled and fierce - One of the things people, especially family members, would say to me during my treatments, was "You need to focus on getting better. You need to take care of yourself". I put everything else aside during that year and a half. I really did put myself first. Now, that was a hard thing for me to do. I don't like putting myself first. I've got 4 kids, and a husband who all need me. However, I recognized (finally) the wisdom in taking care of myself. I knew it wouldn't last forever, and I needed to channel every bit of the energy I had toward fighting the cancer. So, I really connected with this line in the manifesto.

We believe in focus: getting smart and living strong. This line jumped out at me, because I think that it's where I am right now - trying to figure out how to live strong and be smart about taking care of myself. What kinds of food can I eat that will give me the best nutrition, and not hurt me. What exercises are the most effective - how do I become stronger, and fight off recurrence? How do I take care of not only my body, but my mind as well. How do I manage everything that has happened, and make it work with what I want my life to be like now? There are so many things to figure out, but one thing I know - I have to get smart and live strong!

The last few lines I shared is something I've tried to explain to friends and family, and haven't been able to get quite right - We know the fight never ends. Cancer may leave your body, but it never leaves your life. I know there are people who go through cancer, fight for their lives, get through treatments, and then get on with their lives - they put their cancer journeys behind them. I can't do that. I've known for a long time that I can't just forget what happened. It was an awful thing to go through, and I know that there are thousands of women going through the same thing right now - and there will be thousands more who will have to go through it in the future. If what I experienced can help even one of them, then I have to be involved. The other day, I was looking at buying a Hope purse from Miche Bags, and I had a catalog sitting on my table. My husband started to flip through the catalog, and asked which purse design I was thinking about getting. I told him that I wanted the Hope bag - which is a breast cancer bag. He looked at me and said "Can we not just put this behind us?" Do I wish I could just put it behind me? Sure. Can I? No. Because cancer leaves our bodies, but never leaves our lives. It's part of us. It's part of me. I hope that the experience I had with cancer can be useful to someone else.

"Cancer is a long, hard road. But if there's one thing cancer has taught me, it is that we are stronger than we think. The journey may be frightening and challenging. But, when the way gets tough, we find the strength to go on."
-Lance Armstrong

1 comment:

Cyndi's Blog said...

I love all your posts Kara but this one especially touched me. Thank you for helping me through this journey!

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