My New Normal
I feel as though I have a very special connection with Sharsheret. They had just become a budding non-profit when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33. It was 2002: I had just moved to Atlanta and had to start chemotherapy as soon as I arrived. You can imagine how thankful I was to find Sharsheret’s Peer Support program that hooked me up with a woman who had gone through the same thing. It truly was a blessing to have someone who could relate to everything I was going through call and check on me weekly.
Five years passed cancer-free and everything in my life was going great. My husband and I had adopted a baby from Guatemala. He was about to turn four when I got the news that changed everything. “Your cancer is back.” I literally fell to the floor crying in desperation.
This was not supposed to happen to me. I immediately called Sharsheret and started to have a weekly conversation with someone from their support staff. I joined the Embrace program and they got me to the place where I could accept my “new normal.”
Fast forward five more years and I am still able to watch my precious child turn ten years old due to the miracle of more treatment options in advanced breast cancer. It is funny how life works because when I got the call to be asked to write this piece I was going to call Sharsheret myself! I had just found out last week that the medication I was on for years had stopped working and I am going to have to change treatments again. Any time I need extra support, my go-to people are those at Sharsheret. It is an amazing organization where I receive love, guidance, and most important understanding about the toughest part of my life. They truly are a blessing that I could not have done without.