My story is a little different. It has two parts to it, two different cancers.
About two years ago, in December 2016, I found a lump in my breast and suddenly I had breast cancer. I have had several friends with breast cancer who have gone through a variety of surgeries and medical procedures so I knew I could talk with them and they would be a great support team. I had a simple surgery followed by radiation and I was cancer free.
Ten months later I was diagnosed with a different kind of cancer completely independent and not related to the breast cancer. It was cancer of the endometrium. That’s cancer of the uterus.
This second diagnosis really shook me to the core. First of all, I didn’t know anyone who had cancer of the endometrium. It’s a much less common cancer. I didn’t know anything about it and there was no one who had come before me that I could talk to. This time I had a more complicated surgery followed again by radiation. Then I had chemotherapy. I went through the whole gamut of it. Now I am on the other side and I’m cancer free.
I decided to participate in Tour de Pier because, well, frankly, I’m still here. I can do it.
Last year, I had my own Tour de Pier team. I tried riding a bike but it was too hard for me. Weeks of chemotherapy had left me exhausted and I didn’t have enough energy to peddle. Chemotherapy really takes a toll on your body. I was happy to sit on the bike to participate for a couple minutes but then I was really happy to see my strong healthy friends take over and ride for me.
Everybody helping out and working together makes the healing happen. A dear friend’s encouragement helped keep me going. I kept repeating what she told me: “You’re going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.” And you know what? I am going to be fine. To those who are now facing cancer or anyone who may be diagnosed with cancer in the future, “Hey, we can do this. I’m still here. And we can do this.”
Join Karen & the fight against cancer today!