Look for me in the "Survivors Lap". I'll be the one smiling!

Luminary Memory Bags at the
American Cancer Society's Relay for Life

A few weeks ago, I read an article about the importance of mentally transitioning from being a cancer patient to being a cancer survivor. In the article, the author wrote about how her fears had stayed with her for months following chemotherapy and at a follow-up check-up nearly a year after being clean, her doctor spoke to her about the need to change her self-perception and accept that she no longer HAD cancer. She needed to view herself as a survivor and needed to live her life to the fullest. I had just seen my oncologist a few days before reading the article and it made me think about how he wanted me to understand that cancer was now in my past.

This is what the port looks like. It
is a bump about the size of a quarter
under my skin just below my collar
bone. Two tubes are laced into arteries,
one up my neck and one down
 into my chest.

During the last week of March, I had to go into the chemotherapy treatment center to have my port flushed. I will need to go monthly to have it flushed with saline until I choose to have it removed. Eric and I have decided to wait for 3 clean scans before I schedule to have the surgery to take it out. Since I need to go for mammograms every 3 months, in 9 months I will have this lovely little machine extracted. Anyways, I walked into the lab full of confidence and excitement to see the nurses that I have come to love. When I sat down in the waiting room, it was the first time I realized I was on the other side. I wasn’t there to get poisoned. I wasn’t going to leave feeling sick. I wasn’t going to need help that night with the kids. I was just a girl, with a port, that needed it flushed out.

Last week a fellow-sister-survivor invited me to walk with her in the Survivors Lap at our local Elk Grove - American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. After about 5 seconds of thinking about it I decided that yes… I would be honored to walk in the SURVIVORS LAP. Then a few days later my friend Heidi invited me to join her family team and participate in the 24-hour-relay. I am excited to join their team and work to keeping the baton moving for 24 hours without stopping. It’s a big commitment, but I’m up for it.

So anyway, this is the part where I solicit your support and donation toward supporting this organization that has personally helped me through my fight. Don’t worry, I’m not asking for a lot. Knowing how hard it is for me to ask for donations, I committed to raising the very obtainable goal of $100. I figure if every FaceBook friend could donate 15¢ or if the regular viewers of this blog could donate 40¢, it is very possible that I could actually reach my very obtainable goal.

This is the generic letter that the American Cancer Society provide for me to distribute:

Dear Friend:

I am participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life because I want to make a meaningful difference in the fight against cancer. Almost everyone has been touched by cancer, either through their own personal battle or through someone they love.



Every day, the American Cancer Society is helping us stay well by preventing cancer or finding it at its earliest, most treatable stages. They assist families in finding the best resources to help their friend or loved one deal with a diagnosis and their journey to get well. The American Cancer Society is also rallying communities (like ours!) through events like Relay For Life, to fight back and find cures for this disease.

Please join my team or make a donation to help the American Cancer Society create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together, we can help make sure that cancer never steals another year of anyone’s life!

And here’s my heartfelt letter to you:

Dear Friends & Family:

The day I found out I had cancer will forever be engraved in my memory. I was at my aunt’s house feeding my 15-month-old baby in the high chair when the phone rang. I recognized that it was a number from the hospital so I excused myself, stepping over my 4-year-old playing trains in the center of the room. As the doctor told me about the results of my biopsy, I calmly took notes of every word he spoke and thanked him kindly for the horrible news. I then calmly told my aunt I had an aggressive form of cancer, asked her to watch the kids and then drove to my husbands work to inform him that our life had just taken yet another bump. When he started crying, I started crying. Those were my first tears. We went to my parents house to inform them that their baby girl (me) had cancer. Then I went to my sister’s house to share the news with her. When I read the details I had scribbled down to them, I watched my brother-in-law’s face (who is a cancer research analyst for UC Davis) change from concern to worry. He understood the diagnosis. Through his face, we knew this was going to be a big deal.

This little pillow actually meant a lot to me.
It clearly came from the loving hands of someone that
understood what it was like to have a lumpectomy. 

At my pre-surgery visit, the nurse gave me a bag of books about cancer, chemo, radiation, etc. A full 3 inches of material to read. There was also a small floral pillow made by volunteers that the nurse told me would be helpful after surgery for when I needed to wear a seatbelt in the car. She encouraged me to register with the American Cancer Society so that I could find out about all of the services they had to offer.

The day before I went into surgery, I made the call. A kind woman answered the phone and took my information. We talked for close to an hour, and I think she would have talked to me for 4 hours if I needed it. She shared about the financial assistance they had for transportation costs to patients that needed help in driving to treatment. They had volunteers available to drive me to treatments if I needed it. They had classes & support groups, online or at various hospitals. She even mentioned a class called ‘Look Good, Feel Better’ where I could learn to do make-up around my eyes and how to draw on eyebrows after my eyelashes and eyebrows fell out. She was honest and clear. I felt supported and understood.

Free make-up?
Yes, please!

After my 2^nd chemotherapy treatment and my hair had fallen out I went to the ‘Look Good, Feel Better’ class. At the class, I sat with 6 other women who were going through treatment too. One of the older ladies scolded me for not wearing my face mask in the hospital halls. My husband had been telling me I needed to wear it, but when this fellow cancer patient spoke, I somehow understood the need to take responsibility for my immune system and myself. We put on make-up, they showed us different wigs, and head wraps offer by ACS and the volunteers handed out crocheted beanies. We were given a bag of make-up donated by a variety of cosmetic companies throughout the country. Everyone teaching the class had experienced hair loss and had gone through chemo treatment. In that room, I was normal.

I appreciate that the American Cancer Society does not single out any one particular cancer. I appreciate that they were there for me with resources and support as a patient. And I appreciate that, “No single nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization in the US has invested more to find the causes and cures of cancer than the American Cancer Society.”

Please consider supporting me and the American Cancer Society as I joyfully, proudly and gratefully walk in the Survivors Lap and participate at the Relay for Life event in Elk Grove on Saturday, April 28^th. Any size donation will help me reach my very obtainable goal of $100. With your generous donation, we might be able to actually make a difference in the life of the next young mother who is shocked to find out that she too has been diagnosed with cancer. 

Here’s the link to my Relay for Life page: Kelly Joppa's Relay For Life Page

Thank you in advance on behalf of cancer patients, families and survivors that will benefit from your donation.

Love,

Kelly

*** If you would like to honor a loved one with a luminary bag the night of the event you can find that button on my page as well. If you choose to do this, please let me know and I will try to find the bag and take a picture of it for you.

I am hoping that this is the right step… or lap… or 100 laps in the right direction toward confirming that I am a survivor!