There are Survivors Among Us

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the world. There are 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Globally, 4.4 million women are alive today who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the last five years (source: Susan G. Komen for the Cure). It’s pretty safe to say that on any given day, as we visit the grocery store, the theater, theme parks and museums … there are survivors among us.

When you pass a woman at the mall, do you ever wonder … is she a survivor? Did she hear those fateful words, ‘you have breast cancer?’ Did she fear she’d lose her hair — or lose her hair only to learn it’s okay to lose her hair? Has she been through the hell of breast cancer treatment and then, instead of feeling celebratory upon her treatment’s completion, feel incredibly vulnerable and fearful that she was on her own? Do you wonder … did she literally fight and fear for her life … does she still?

When you watch women with their children or grandchildren at the zoo or in the park … do you wonder if they think about being a survivor every morning as they wake and every night as they go to bed? Do they worry about their children and the toll cancer has taken on them? Do they cry at the mere thought that their children or grandchildren would grow up without them, not knowing them? That their husband would have to live without them?

When you see men taking their seats at the ballpark, do you wonder if they had the shock of a lifetime when they were diagnosed with breast cancer? Were they embarrassed to tell their friends they had breast cancer because on some level they feared this was a woman’s disease? Were they scared they would die and leave their wives widowed and their children orphaned and their mothers completely heartbroken?

Do you wonder if they are just like you?

That photograph? That’s me, not even one year after my initial treatment ended. That’s me, with a pink ribbon on my sleeve. That’s where I wear my heart, always have, always will. That’s me.

That day? I was with my husband and my children enjoying a perfect afternoon. We were at a picnic and my children were deeply involved in a craft project. My husband was snapping photos. I was enjoying my kids and my husband and thinking about how lucky I was to be spending the day with them all. How blessed I was to be able to see their busy bodies and smiling faces. I was thinking about how happy I was to be alive.

Every day, there are survivors among us. Not only at the walks or the support groups or the fundraising events throughout the world. They are among us and they are living their lives in a way that only other survivors understand. They are living their lives.