Starting in the second year in Cancer Quick Facts down below there is a comment section. With my biggest goal for this second year being cancer patients having a place to come. A top tag of sharing stories with other visitants of this website their “success stories.” Describing the types of cancers they have or had and what they did or tryed to do…. to overcome their particular situation. My basic belief is that by sharing information…. Interesting Facts About Cancer….maybe these cancer survivors can help someone else by learning Facts About Cancer Online ….from those coming before them…. what was learned or experienced…???
This response came through my website 12/21/2012 and an early Christmas present it was: Thank You… Cameron & Heather Von St. James for the share. Hopefully it will assist the visitants of Solitarius.org
Being A Cancer Caregiver
My wife has told me that she can’t imagine what I went through after her cancer diagnosis. As her husband and her primary caregiver during her cancer fight, it truly was a difficult time for me. I hope that by sharing my story here, I can help another family currently battling through cancer today.
Three months before her diagnosis we had Lily, our first and only child. We went from great joy and promise to fear and uncertainity in a matter of weeks. When we heard mesothelioma for the first time, my wife cried from the news. I thought, “How are we going to get through this?” On the verge of breaking down, the doctors questions about future medical care snapped me back to reality. There would be many days from then on when I would feel emotionally spent…. yet still need to make difficult decisions with my wife.
Immediately following this diagnosis, I was full of rage and fear. I struggled to control my emotions and could only communicate with others with profanity. I realized that I had to be strong for my wife and daughter. They were depending on me and couldn’t see my fear. I needed to be a source of hope and stability for them.
However on many days I was overwhelmed. I dealt with everything from work and travel arrangements, to caring for our daughter and pets, but I learned to focus on the most important tasks. I also accepted the many offers of help we received from others, which were a blessing. I’m not sure what I would have done without the support of our loving family and friends.
Following her surgery in Boston at the Brigham and Womens Hospital. Heather had flown to South Dakota, where Lily had been staying with her parents. Where she had to recover and prepare for her next phase of mesothelioma treatment: chemotherapy and radiation. Because I had to remain at home to work, I could not join them. Which during this time (spanning two months) I saw them only once.
On a Friday afternoon after work, I drove eleven hours through a snow storm, and I could only spend a little time with them that weekend before driving back for work on Monday. It was the most sensible choice. I could not have cared for Heather and Lily while working full time. It was just one of the many difficult choices that cancer forces us to make.
What I learned during this challenging time was to accept offers of help from others and to take comfort in the ability to make choices. It’s a way to maintain a level of control during a time of such uncertainity. Despite all of the struggles and the overwhelming odds against her, Heather is still here, healthy and helping others over seven years later. I hope that our story can give inspiration and help those currently battling cancer.
Cameron Von St. James
Roseville, Minnesota
It Takes Creative Flow To Overcome
An accomplished singer and song writer with gold, platinum albums to her name or quite simply penning Faith Hill’s “This Kiss,” a life filled with obstacles. For Beth Nielsen Chapman 47 it met a life interrupted by breast cancer and who only lost her husband Edward 6 years earlier to lymphoma. Edwards life was overwhelming and totally devastating but yet Beth found a way to get through both events.
As she managed to get up most morning and somehow made it through the day with life moving ahead. She felt peace in the midst of all the pain and in the song World Hurt, she wrote and sang, What the heart knows… the heart see’s we are just as much the forest as we are the trees. It’s a given it takes a lot of heart and soul to get us through the adversity that’s handed to us in our daily life.
Another testament of song getting us through difficulty comes from New York City Native Matthew Zachary. When a young gifted pianist who dreamed of composing film score in only his senior year of college and everything changes with a diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor. Than after a seven hour surgery, he begin an intense round of chemotherapy which leaves him weakened and depressed.
Therefore, ultimately letting music be his song and chooses not to undergo a further round of chemotherapy and instead then focuses on regaining his ability to play the piano. In 2000 he releases his first album of original material “Scribblings.” Today Zachary’s cancer is in full remission as he performs his music around the country. As he puts his energy into helping young people cope with cancer…. through his website Cancer Is Stupid (I’m Too Young For This.)
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