Click here to read an essay I wrote in the LUNGevity blog!

When I was first diagnosed with lung cancer people didn’t know how to respond to me, and they would typically say “You will be okay”, or “I’m sorry”. Those responses were acceptable, but sometimes I really just wanted someone to understand exactly what I felt and what I was going through. I recall talking about my surgery, the fear I had, the pain I was in, and the overall impact it had on my life past, present, and future. The feelings overwhelmed me at times and seemed very much out of my control.

Recently, I met someone in my hometown that has lung cancer too. We haven’t been friends for long, but I have met her a few times and call her often. We talk about the issues surrounding funding for the disease, the stigmas, and our personal stories with cancer. She is a little bit of a hard-headed person. However, she is kind-hearted, funny and absolutely irresistible. She tells it like it is, and sometimes that can be hard to hear.
When I met her I was planning a lung cancer fundraiser in my area. She called me on the phone, criticized and had suggestions for the event. Then she asked me if I’d meet her for lunch. I was nervous and excited to meet her for the first time. At this point, I hadn’t met many other survivors of lung cancer. But from the moment I met her, I knew I wanted to continue a friendship beyond my fundraiser. She was full of spirit, energy, and she unknowingly made me want to fight even harder for the future of lung cancer research, raise awareness, and work to erase the stigma of this disease.