By Lindsay McDonell April 20 2025 Ten years ago upon receiving my diagnosis of breast cancer, I was frightened and confused. However, I also remember feeling relieved, which was really weird. I was no longer waiting around for the generational curse of my family’s cancer to creep up on me. As … [Read more...] about What to Do When Things Go Better Than Expected: Finding My New Normal with “NED” Ten Years Later
Stories of Hope
My decision to focus this website on HOPE comes from my obsessive curiosity and fascination with the question of what it takes for a patient to defy medical statistics and survive and thrive, despite the severity of the diagnosis? What role does HOPE have in that outcome? What about a strong “will to live?” How does one prepare to face the challenges and the traumas of a cancer diagnosis and treatment? How does one deal with the angst to get through the fears and uncertainties? And then, how does a person cope with the enormity of the internal changes that have taken place on the cancer path … the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual?
I want to use the experiences of the authors and myself to bring a sense of hope, a sense of belonging to a greater community, to encourage my sisters and brothers to receive the blessings of those who have walked the cancer walk before. We hold your hand and your heart.
That is the spirit in which we share our stories and hopefully contribute to your healing.
HEAL-U, One Woman’s Journey to Overcome Incurable Cancer by Jenny Kennedy
One sentence. That’s all it took. One sentence and my body shut down. Immediately. Entirely I’m so sorry. You have incurable ovarian cancer. I didn’t hear another word the doctor said. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t walk. I sat motionless with one thought in my head: I’m going to die. How long … [Read more...] about HEAL-U, One Woman’s Journey to Overcome Incurable Cancer by Jenny Kennedy
I Survived Cancer and Here Is How I Did It by Marianne Sarcich
Marianne Sarcich, a breast cancer survivor and patient advocate, is the Founder of the breast cancer peer support group In This Together Philly Wilmington. She helps patients and survivors in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. She advocates locally and nationally, creating programming … [Read more...] about I Survived Cancer and Here Is How I Did It by Marianne Sarcich
The Will to Live: Two Tiny Blades of Grass
by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. I am deeply honored to be asked to contribute some thoughts to this book. In thinking of what I have learned — after fifty-two years of practicing medicine and sixty-one years of personal experience with significant chronic illness — that might be useful to … [Read more...] about The Will to Live: Two Tiny Blades of Grass
What the Patient Wants … Why You Need to Treat Others the Way They Want to be Treated
By Andrea Wilson Woods When my 15-year-old sister Adrienne was diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer, I was beyond devastated. I was Adrienne’s legal guardian, and I had raised her from the age of eight. I could not imagine my life without her. Yet, her cancer journey only lasted 147 days. The … [Read more...] about What the Patient Wants … Why You Need to Treat Others the Way They Want to be Treated
Rachel Naomi Remen: Sustenance for Uncertain Times by Rebecca Katz
When it comes to healing, our notion of time can behave very strangely. It might speed up or it might be infinitely slow, like molasses. When we are eager for a loved one to get better, as I am now, it can seem like forever. The body heals at the rate that it heals. I remember Rachel Naomi Remen … [Read more...] about Rachel Naomi Remen: Sustenance for Uncertain Times by Rebecca Katz
Space for Humanity by Sean Swarner
Meet two-time terminal cancer survivor Sean Swarner. His first goal was to crawl 8 feet from the hospital bed to the bathroom. He went on to climb the highest point on every continent (including Mt. Everest), skied to both the North and South Poles, and completed the Ironman World Championship in … [Read more...] about Space for Humanity by Sean Swarner
Stories of Hope
What to Do When Things Go Better than Expected: Finding My New Normal with "NED" Ten Years Later by Lindsay McDonell Strangers by Nancy Novack This Might be the Best Day Ever by Annie Lamott The Doctor-Patient Relationship by Rachel Remen M.D. Changed by Cancer by Suleika Jaouad Holding … [Read more...] about Stories of Hope