Silver Linings - a Cancer Survivor's Story

In 2003, I was one of more than 200,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer. This article, however, is not really about that traumatic experience (I'll save that for another time), but, rather, about the blessings I received in the form some wonderful people who provided care and comfort to me at that difficult time:

My chemo nurse, also one of my neighbors, who helped me feel comfortable during my infusions. She brought cookies to my house to celebrate my last treatment.

My next door neighbor's mother, a breast cancer survivor of twenty years, who came to my door to introduce herself and became a living symbol of hope for the future for me.

My 22-year-old son who instructed me to use positive imagery and picture myself doing what I wanted to be doing three years from now at a time when I was afraid I might not be around in three years.

My 19-year-old daughter who stood over my bed after my initial surgery and announced that I looked beautiful. She also went wig shopping with me (and made it fun) and somehow managed to cut off all my hair without crying.

My sister who visited me at my home post-surgery with a manicure kit, in case I was in need of a manicure and unable to do it for myself. She and another sister also joined me for my second chemo treatment which was scheduled on my 45th birthday. We called it a chemo party. We had a lot of laughs, but I'm still convinced it would have been more fun with a little vodka added to that crushed ice drink they make you consume while having your treatments to prevent mouth sores.

A fellow teacher who told me that she had glanced at me when I entered the building on the first day I wore my new wig and wondered who the hot new sub (substitute teacher) was.

Another colleague who put a note in my mailbox on that same day to tell me that my new hairdo was beautiful.

A woman I barely knew, the mother of a child who went to daycare with my young children and herself a breast cancer survivor, who called me out of the blue to talk to me and spent an hour answering my questions.