Still in My Chair
Well, here we are … October 28, only three days left until Breast Cancer Awareness Month is over.
Hopefully, I’m still sitting in my chair. I pray that I am not one of the 3,627 people whose lives were stolen by metastatic breast cancer this month.
Not yet. November 1 is when the real work begins.
Once all of the pink ribbons are put away for another year, and once all of the pink storefronts and products turn to Thanksgiving and Christmas, THAT’S when my advocacy becomes most important.
It’s my purpose and mission to keep going, keep spreading my message of living with hope while also living with a terminal illness. Metastatic breast cancer is not a chronic illness that is indefinitely sustainable. Treatments will eventually run out, there will be no more new options to try, and I will most likely die from this disease.
As you know by now, I am going to shout from the rooftops, podiums, Capitol Hill, doctor’s offices, and anywhere I can that I AM NOT DEAD YET.
Unlike the poor peasant in Monty Python who meekly pronounced those words, I will not say them quietly.
I will not be treated as a “dead woman walking.” In fact, if it wasn’t for cancer in my body, you would never know that I have metastatic breast cancer from looking at my blood work! You might not notice it when you look at me … you know, since I have hair, I’m not emaciated from chemotherapy, and I can still laugh about the absurdities of living with this disease daily.
Make no mistake … as long as I have breath in my lungs and a pounding heart in my chest, I am not dead. I deserve to be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect. I deserve to be seen as a woman using every breath and heartbeat to LIVE, not just exist.
The force is strong in this one! (yes, I’m an unabashed Star Wars fan!)
Join Me in My Fight
Come November 1, I need your support more than ever. Actually, it’s November 3 because I’ll be on vacation until then!
Interestingly enough, November 3 is Election Day. That’s the most sacred day in America … the day we get to hire or fire our government representatives. We are the bosses, and November 3 is the performance review day. It’s the day we can reward those who have done their jobs well or fire those who haven’t.
Don’t squander this most American of rights that we have.
Remind Washington and the state and local government officials that WE are the boss of THEM, not the other way around.
Study the candidates and issues that they support or don’t. Healthcare reform is desperately needed in the greatest country on earth. Legislative policy reform is long overdue to make Medicare and Social Security Disability benefits accessible when WE need them, not when the government says we do. Funding for metastatic cancer research, accurate cancer registry information, and scientific breakthroughs are non-negotiables for me.
Do your part to go forth and be exceptional in your American duty. Do it for me. Please.
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