- November 25, 2020
- Member Stories
I was diagnosed with an incurable sarcoma 3.5 years ago, and was told to write my will and have my things in order. As a mom of young children, I found that first year incredibly hard, I felt very lonely and often fearful.
The future seemed like a distant possibility that I may never see. When I found the good people at Wellspring, and started taking programming there, it was like a switch turned in my brain. I learned how to calm my nervous system so I wasn’t in constant anxiety, I connected with other patients who were walking the same road as myself and they seemed confident and relaxed. I started to see the disease differently – not as a death sentence, though that was what I was given. No – when I started at Wellspring I slowly began to realize this diagnosis could be seen as manageable. Like diabetes, or low blood pressure, or any other chronic thing people live with. I started to ask myself “well, THAT person survived, so why can’t I survive?”
I loved it there so much that I started as a peer support volunteer, and now I spend time listening to people who have been newly diagnosed and sharing my story with them to provide some hope and comfort in a time of extreme stress and trauma. In fact, I was thrilled to join the Wellspring 10K lululemon fundraiser last year, even after all the medical interventions I’ve undergone.
In addition, although I’m still dealing with metastatic cancer, my doctors have been extremely surprised at how well I have been doing, and I believe strongly that what I learned at Wellspring and my experiences there have contributed to this beautiful season of my life. This year will be five years since I was diagnosed, and the average rate of survival for someone with this diagnosis is 12 – 18 months.
