In honor of Women’s Health Awareness Week (May 8-14), we’ve invited author and cancer survivor Drenda Lane Howatt to be our featured guest blogger. Diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2008 at age 47, Drenda has been cancer-free now for more than a year.
She chronicled her diagnosis through “status updates” and correspondences with friends and family via Facebook.com, and compiled them to form the book, Strong and Courageous: A Survivor’s Facebook Journey Through Cancer.
Here is an excerpt from the book, which can be ordered through amazon.com:
Present is Priceless
Sunday, August 2, 2009 at 7:53pm
I have written much about the support I have received as I have stared cancer in the face.
So many people have been by my side.
Some have gone before me. And then came to take my hand and lead me into the darkness. And they held a light onto my path.
Some have walked beside me the entire time. Their presence makes the darkness less scary.
Some are so frightened by breast cancer that they need to hear my story so they can find the differences between us. For if we ARE different, then they are “safe” from breast cancer. And once they feel safe, some are still there, and others are gone.
Some I do not even know. They read my blog, or hear my story from someone close to me, and then they reach out to let me know I am in their prayers.
But some are absent.
Pretty much completely.
And those that are absent make me wonder.
Are they afraid of me now?
Scared to say anything for fear of saying the “wrong” thing?
Afraid that cancer may be contagious?
Afraid of being a bother?
Or, perhaps, not realizing that reaching out does make a difference?
I don’t know the answer.
But their absence does make me realize that I have been “absent” for others before.
And that makes me sad.
Because now I realize, truly, how important it is to be “present.”
And what a difference that those “present” can make.
Priceless.
Learn more about CancerCare’s free, specialized services for women facing cancer.
Posted by Kyle Hornyak 