Well, here we are, in our new home. You know what they say about real estate…Location, location, location…What better place for a blog about cancer, cancer patients, and cancer care-givers, than the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins?
The reverse is true too. How lucky Hopkins is to have this community share it’s knowledge and experience of living with the beast. We’ve walked down the cancer road with all it’s twists and turns and surprises. We’ve celebrated NED scans together and shared in the pain of remission turning into relapse. It’s what cancer does in many cases and we know that too.
But after all this time, we’ve learned to lift when the load gets too heavy. I don’t know of any one in this community who hasn’t needed some lifting at one time or another. Cancer is a heavy burden. Every day the patient faces the fear and anxiety of living with the disease. The care-giver picks up the pieces of life that has changed forever and together they do what they can to make that new life something that isn’t defined by the disease.
It means taking the old habits and tossing them and making new routines that fit around a schedule full of doctors, tests and treatments. Not easy, but essential.
So, that’s what we’ll do here, just like we’ve always done. Share our experiences and hopefully help some new members who are just trying to adjust.
We’re here and we’re ready to share.
Mar 23, 2011 @ 00:58:59
What a lovely surprise to look in and find a new home with Leroy’s legacy shining on! Wishing you a warm reception and unexpected blessings, Laurie (and all) ~ I’ve no doubt that the conversations will continue and grow here. Sending love and best wishes, always …
Mar 21, 2011 @ 20:36:36
Leroy drew us to Our Cancer because we were searching for someone “just like us” to reach out to and to learn from. And did we learn from him and everyone who has visited this site! My hope is that with this new house we can help to teach those who need us and learn from those we need. Sometimes a new home is just the spark we need to grow. Welcome to all who enter here.
Mar 21, 2011 @ 19:22:08
Yes we are here and we have much to say for those who need help or support or education, etc. I attended a Cancer Survivors Network conference at St. Joseph’s Hospital here in Atlanta last Saturday. Just amazing to see and meet so many survivors and to see that they are trying to help others as they enter this scary place. One lady had: kidney cancer some 16 years ago; colon cancer some 14 years ago; lung cancer about 7 years ago and now thyroid cancer….what a lady and what a spirit. It is inspiring to meet such heroes. One man was diagnosed with lung cancer…40 something tumors in his lungs….searched and found a place in Boston that had this drug in a clinical trial and he is now a fund raiser for the Lung Association and was just diagnosed with bladder cancer. Cancer patients come in all shapes, sizes, ages and it doesn’t discriminate between the rich and the poor. One observation seemingly common to all of the survivors is their spirit and humility…..we have been given a gift so let’s do what we can to help make a difference for others. I hope that we will be able a year from now to look back and see that we have made a difference in many patients/caregivers lives here at our blog. Our hearts and our doors are open….Welcome to all who come. You are in a very safe place with fellow travelers who have walked the same path that you are walking now. Let us walk with you. We don’t have all of the answers but we do have many of them and we’ll share them all with you. The feelings you feel now, we have felt. The questions you have now, we also had and we have some of the answers to share. This is a place or blog begun some years ago by a special person named Leroy Sievers. Leroy let us all know that the cancer world is a scary place, that we don’t always have all of the answers and that it is OK to rant, rave and bark at the moon out of frustration. But most of all, he shared himself in a most unselfish way as he chronicled his own journey. He let us see his frailties, demons and most of all his eternal optimism and hope and of course his good humor. The Mighty Oak looks down and smiles. His legacy has been passed and is tended so well by Laurie. Come fellow traveler and visit this special place……Laurie’s Place.
Mar 21, 2011 @ 18:46:26
Do we have to dress up?
Mar 23, 2011 @ 11:32:20
If there was ever a “come as you are” place, this is it.
Laurie
Mar 21, 2011 @ 15:59:51
Just stopping in to say a quick hello, and to wish everyone a welcome. I’ll try to drop in as often as time allows. Thanks, Laurie!