Today is my ninth year as a breast cancer survivor, having been diagnosed on this day in 2004.
It was a roller-coaster ride through over one year of treatment that ended in November 2005, after a Stage 4 (metastatic) diagnosis. I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, strengthened by the genuine love shown by family, friends, donors and supporters.
My children, then aged 9 and 5, are now aged 18 and 14, and by the grace of God, well recovered from the experience of ‘almost losing’ one parent.
God’s mercies have been great and plentiful. Blessings have poured constantly and abundantly. Illness was followed by healing. And I received a generous share of graduations, birthdays, baptisms, travels, musical/theatrical performances, work, love and laughter, together with a fair share of accidents, deaths, wounds, failure, disappointment, and intrigue.
A priest once said that life’s highs and lows are the only concrete “proof of life”. For when we stop having problems or stop trying to solve them, it probably means we are already six feet under. He advised us to embrace challenges, sickness, even death, as these are the platforms on which we can triumph, be well, and truly live.
So today, I pray for the fortitude to weather challenges, sickness and death, that I may experience triumph, wellness, and life as does please the Lord Almighty.
I pray for my donors, whose selflessness and generosity enabled me to complete my treatment, and for my supporters, whose unceasing prayers have allowed me to make it this far in the journey. May you all be blessed with perfect health and constant safety, as does please the Lord Almighty. You are my angels remembered in prayer daily and with utmost gratitude for all time.
Thank you for making today not only a lucky, but a truly blessed nine.
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