I sit here at the computer and I look to my right and Leroy is smiling through a heart-shaped frame. His smile is fixed behind a small piece of glass, so it doesn’t fade. Many afternoons, as I’ve sat down to write the day’s entry to the “Our Cancer” blog, I’ve looked at that picture, for guidance and inspiration.
Six years ago, Leroy sat in this chair and began to share his life experience of living with cancer. He really didn’t know what to write. He wasn’t sure what was expected of him. He some how came to the conclusion that his heart and soul would find the words and his fingers would do the typing, and “My Cancer” would be the result.
What a combination that would prove to be. I would come to call it “Leroy’s hood.” This community of friends and fellow cancer warriors gathered daily. This is where cancer met it’s match. The honesty of Leroy’s posts touched a place so deeply hidden in all of us, we weren’t sure how to repsond at first, but when we realized these posts were the real deal, cancer exposed for what it was, the flood gates opened and the “My Cancer” community grew by the thousands and from all over the world.
Leroy’s voice may have been silenced when he died on August 15, 2008, but not this thoughts..”My Cancer” morphed into “Our Cancer.” This community has remained solid and continues to share experiences relating not just to the cancer patient, but to the care giver too. We need to thank the good people of NPR for recognizing that need. They’ve given us a good home these past few years.
So now, it’s time to un-hinge the “Our Cancer” shingle and move to our new home, here, at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center website. It is the perfect match. The blogs will continue and your comments will be welcomed as always.
https://our-cancer.blogs.hopkinsmedicine.org That is the new address…bookmark it and use it daily!! Please, continue to be a part of our family.
We still have a lot of work to do. We need to share our stories with those just walking into cancer world. They need to know how to handle what many of us have already been through.
All I have to do is look over at that heart-shaped frame holding Leroy’s picture to know we’re doing the right thing.
See you all here, at https://our-cancer.blogs.hopkinsmedicine.org on Monday.
Mar 21, 2011 @ 14:27:30
Just checking to see if it works so that we can leave comments.
Mar 20, 2011 @ 08:56:50
Thank you Laurie, NPR and above all, Leroy, for bringing us all together for this huge net of support. How would we have survived without this place over the last few years? Laurie, thank you for making it possible for us to continue to meet here and share our worries, our sorrow and our happiness.
Mar 19, 2011 @ 09:51:50
I posted a response earlier, but don’t see it. Perhaps it didn’t have time to clear and post yet. Hopefully it will show up, because it’s where I thanked Laurie and welcomed all the new comers we hope to have.
Wow Laurie!! I just now went through the index list in the upper right corner. How “user friendly” you have made this site!! Not only can we continue on as we have in the past, it is so easy to find information and also to retrieve all of Leroy’s old posts as well as the posts of all our dear and old friends. Thank you and Hopkins too for all the hard work that must have gone into this project. Well done!!
Mar 18, 2011 @ 22:54:17
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Mar 18, 2011 @ 15:36:43
A thank you to NPR (can it really have been so many years we’ve all been meeting there?) and a welcome to all at this “new home”. I think I see Leroy nodding a big Yes.