I’m a busy mother with cancer . . .

I was blindsided by cancer – not once, but twice.

And it changed my life in ways that I could never have imagined possible.
I was a very busy woman – some might say a super-energetic, self-proclaimed workaholic and take-charge mother of two. I tirelessly pursued ticking items off an endless GSD (Get Stuff Done) list.

One day, I noticed a small lump on my breast, and soon bombs began exploding on my perfect life. The examination led to a mammogram, followed by an ultrasound, then, much to my distress, an urgent biopsy. Two weeks of agonizing pain and worry later, I got the results. It was cancer. I heard nothing else after that.

Everything began happening so fast, yet I felt like I was watching my world fall apart in slow motion. I was terrified, sad and angry all at the same time. Everything that I had worked so hard to achieve in my life and career was being turned upside down. There were no words that could comfort me, nothing my friends or family could say that would make me feel better. I felt I had lost control and my future felt completely uncertain.

I tried to convince myself that this was nothing more than a bad phase that I had to get through before I could get back to my life again. I was continually encouraged by my bi-weekly checkups and I found myself get happier and more excited as each day of treatment passed. But then I received news that the cancer was more aggressive than originally anticipated.

Nothing has the power to cripple your life faster than a prognosis of a high risk cancer with high mortality rates! You can’t prepare for that kind of news. I felt sucker-punched, betrayed, demoralized. For weeks I lived in overwhelming fear, overpowering sadness, resentment and anger.

But then I found Wellspring.

Wellspring proved to be the door I didn’t think I needed, but when it opened for me, I was so grateful to have found it. Everyone and everything about it was inviting and warm. I was immediately overcome by an overwhelming sense of belonging. Everything at Wellspring is done with compassionate, healing arms.

The programs I attended helped me learn how to help myself. And they changed me. What I learned at Wellspring had a lasting impact on my new daily routines. I’ve now put my long-sought after career on pause indefinitely, and I’ve found new priorities that truly make me feel like a better person at the end of every day.

I’m now totally fulfilled by volunteering my time at Wellspring, providing peer support and counsel to others who, like me, come seeking help out of their own dark places. And I love being able to give back. I help organize events and raise funds as well, so Wellspring can continue to help all the new cancer patients who are just embarking on their own journeys.
I urge you too, to make a gift to Wellspring. By doing so, you too can be a part of similar joyful transformations for the next cancer patients who will soon discover the precious riches of hope and healing that live just beyond the doors of a Wellspring centre.