Thinking of the word hope associated with cancer is difficult for me, because so much more is needed to overcome the disease and aftermath of treatments. When I think of the word hope, I think of
the minor things in life that we want, not what we need. We hope for a nice day, we hope we get a nice day when we are off. Hoping to get better and to thrive after cancer is not enough. It is a daily struggle, a fight and a lot of work. I know I may be reading too much into this and that my view of the word hope will not be popular but I firmly believe that it is inadequate. We need to not hope that we will overcome but instead we need to believe it, and make sure that everyone we surround ourselves with also believes it – there is no room for doubt!
A balance of hope, tenacity and resiliency has kept me going. I wrote about it here http://katseyeview.blogspot.com/2014/03/hope-tenacity-resiliency.html
I knew my view of the word Hope wouldnt be popular. iam a 10 year Sarcoma survivor and at diagnosis I told all around me to pray and have faith that I would get better, someone said all we hace is hope, and I respect their belief. I felt faith was what pulled me through my darkest days and that hope wasnt an adequate word to describe what was needed to get me to cured! Jen,
Hope…it has seen me through my own breast cancer diagnosis and cure, and it has seen loved ones through their cancer diagnosis and death. To me, hope means getting up every day, and living, loving, celebrating being alive. My aunt, who died from leukemia, after living with it for close to a year, expressed it well shortly before she died. She said, ” I have learned about hope, not the hope for a cure, but the hope to be able to live every day I have to the fullest, about the hope for my family to carry on where I leave off, and about the hope for joy in my life and all of my loved ones.” I will try to carry that wisdom and that hope with me always, as my aunt also said, “This last year of my life has been one of the best years of my life. I had the opportunity to tell everybody I loved them, and to have the conversations I wanted to have. I was able to hug the people I love.”