A Cancer Patient Builds a Community
January 10, 2008 by Anna Farmery
Filed under Cancer and Illness
I have started to love twitter, because of the community feel, the fact that despite working from home I never feel alone and also the power of it.
One of the community, is a wonderful lady called Susan Reynolds who found out that she had breast cancer. To ease the pain she used a bag of frozen peas. When her twitter friends found out, they changed their pictures to frozen peas, sent her messages of support and also raised
money for charity. The Washington post picked up on the story – How Frozen Peas Started a Movement. It is worth reading to understand how blogging can make a real difference in our lives, and how we can face cancer in a positive way.
I share this story as it illustrates to me…
- How blogging can raise awareness from a personal level.
- The power of collective thinking of a community of friends.
- How we are not alone, we have a global community to help us face life’s challenges
- How making a cause personal, it engages people and moves them to want to make a difference.
- The timescale of awareness of our personal problems has moved to minutes/hours.
- How blogging can be used for education of issues.
Oh and how we should all live each day to the full, never let our desire to build a business remove our ability to enjoy life and the love of those around us.
How do you do it Anna. Incredible. I’ll email this link to a friend I know will find it useful. Love, Ronna
Thanks Ronna, but do you know I just want to help change someone’s life for the better. Sounds cheesy I know but I mean that from the heart. When you are writing for that reason, the motivation is always high. Hope it helps your friend
Oh, you are so very right about all of the good that can come from blogs and social networks. I, too, have been thrilled to see the amount of support, caring and financial contribution that the Twitter, and other, communities have provided to support Susan Reynolds!
BTW, it is de-lurker day and I wanted you to know that I look forward to each and every one of your blog posts. I am a subsciber and fan of yours!
Hugs- EE (twitter @expectingexec)
Anna,
Your generosity of spirit is admirable.
May we all learn to be as caring, and giving as you are to us.
Beth
Love hearing from people who enjoy the blog and also finding new sites for people who are grieving. Beth I have added to the blogroll and hopefully together we can reach out to more and more people. x
Great story. I submitted this to stumble upon.
Karen thank you. I am hoping to interview her on my podcast next week as I would love to know more…an inspiring story
I recently lost my husband to cancer. This is a
tragedy in so many ways. It is so difficult to make it from one day to the next. Emotionally and financially it has been a nightmare. Not only do I not have anyone to share my grief with, I also have three children who are trying to cope
Presently seeking emotional and financial support.Where, how, or is there anywhere to seek this. HELP.
Deborah – if you are looking for support you have come to the right place. We all understand the emotions and working from one day to another. Please take time to read through the posts as hopefully will help you. Key for the children is letting them express their emotions..be it talking or even paining about their feelings. If you can give me your top issues I will try and do some posts specifically aimed at them….as I fully understand the pain and the rollercoaster emotions