It's official! I got the results of my pet scan that I did this past Tuesday and on the following day-- Wednesday, January 27, 2016-- my oncologist declared me in "complete remission"!! Considering that I celebrated my birthday only the day before, it was the best birthday present anyone could have received! I mean....considering that when I was first diagnosed, I had no clue of what this cancer was all about and it had crossed my mind that I might not live to see another birthday. Now I am shooting to celebrate many, many, many more! It feels AMAZING to be cancer-free and be rid of this illness. When I was first diagnosed and had accepted the fact that I had cancer, I had only one goal in mind and that was to get to the day I would be declared in remission. Now, with receiving the news officially, I feel as if I can finally go back to living a "normal" life. I know everything will never be the same though. There is no cure (at the moment) for follicular lymphoma, so at some point, it will come back and I'll have to battle it again. I am just hoping that it won't be till 10 or 15 or even 20 years from now. There is no predicting when it will be back but I can't dwell on that and live in fear of it coming back. I have my life back now and will make the most of what I've been given...a second chance to "enjoy every day and live life to the fullest". This is the quote that I am constantly reminded by. It was said by a support group member's sister who had to share the news with us that her younger sister- the newest of our support group- had passed away after fighting colon cancer for 7 months. She was only 26 years old. I only met her once at a meeting yet her presence filled the room; she was so vibrant and full of energy...and it was a shock that only 6 weeks later, she lost her battle. It's a constant reminder to me that this is the reality of cancer unfortunately. It's a deadly disease that has claimed countless lives. Just in the month of January alone, in the news we've heard many celebrities passing away due to cancer related deaths. It just makes me feel all the more fortunate that I went through my treatment with flying colors and was able to beat my cancer. I will never forget the journey that I had to go through.
Following my news that I was in complete remission, we had the awards ceremony for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Light the Night Walk. It was this past Thursday and I attended the event with Aylang and a few other participants from team #fLOUrish (Jane, Chuck and Rick). Each of us received a certificate for raising more than $1,000 each for Light the Night (although they lost two of the certificates) and our team got a plaque for raising more than $5,000 (we ended raising just over $12,000 which was good for top 3 team out of 200+ teams). What was a really nice suprise though was that I received the 2015 Inspiration Award for my cancer journey and the reasons why I chose to participate in the Walk. It was such a great honor to receive such a distinguished award considering that there were over 200 teams participating in the Walk and each team had their own unique story why they were participating in the event yet my story was the one they chose to share. It was a great feeling to accept the award. It was a fitting end to what had turned out to be such a great week...celebrating turning 41, getting news of being in full remission and then receiving the awards.
Though this part of the journey is now over, I know that I am about to embark on a new journey-- a journey that I can fill with many happy memories; a journey without cancer.What hasn't killed me has made me a lot stronger. With the knowledge and perspective that I have, the determination to succeed, and the support of my friends, I know that I can overcome any challenges that come my way in this wonderful journey we call life.
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| Team #fLOUrish receiving the Team Award for raising $12K+ |
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