My 20th year is finally here!
April 28, 2006…the day my life changed forever. As most of you know, it's hard to imagine life beyond those three words "you have cancer" (or in my case it was "we have a problem.")
Soon after my diagnosis, my husband & I were on the sidewalk in Cannon Beach discussing my condition with a friend. We were approached by a woman with a backpack who apologized for eavesdropping but said she felt moved to speak to me. She told me she was a 20-year BC survivor, and upon her diagnosis had received encouragement from a woman who was 20 years out from HER diagnosis. This wonderful stranger on the street told me that in 20 years, I would be the one passing on the message of hope. And unbelievably, HERE I AM!
In BC world it's all about paying it forward, which I have found to be among the most gratifying reasons for survival. So - here's to hope and health for us all!
Julie
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@sugarplum HUGE CONGRATS on your 20 years!!! What an inspiration you are!
Thank you so much for coming back to spread this joy and encouragement to all who've faced a similar diagnosis and are looking for hope.
We hope you do something today to celebrate YOU!😍
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Such wonderful news - thank you for sharing! What did you do to celebrate?
You were one of the first people I noticed on here when I was first diagnosed in 2023, aged 39. I put your name in a little book with lots of other long term survivors on the board and would read the list each night and send so much luck and well wishes into the ether for you all and hope that I too would become a long term survivor. We shall see.
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Congrats Julie. I celebrated 20 years just before you in February. Like you, I could not imagine 20 years in the future, but here we are. I just celebrated a big milestone birthday. I'm happy to be here celebrating birthdays and other milestones. My kids have all graduated University. My girls both married, my son is still a bachelor. Celebrated another 20 years with my bff and co-survivor. Growing old is good but I wish there weren't so many aches and pains and so many "ologists" following me. Oncologist, hematologist, nephrologist, endocrinologist and the list goes on. But there is life after breast cancer.
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