Making Strides

This morning I had the privilege of attending a kick-off breakfast event for the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event taking place this May. While I attended as an ACS employee, I was surprised to see nearly 400 other people who were not ACS employees. While most of the other people represented various businessness and hospitals, nearly half of them were cancer survivors who were in attendance as just that - breast cancer survivors.

Even though I've been working in Oncology for almost a year now, it hasn't become a passion area for me yet. I didn't really choose to work with cancer patients, rather the job sort of landed in my lap. I was about to finish graduate school, the economy was continuing its downward spiral, and I was about to buy a house a get married - I needed a job, and quickly! After applying for several, ACS was the first to call me back and the first to offer me a job. So I took it. Why gamble with the chance that something else would or wouldn't come along? At first I was excited about the job, excited to be working for the nation's largest voluntary health organization. I thought over time I'd become as passionate about cancer as I am about other things - orphan care, adoption, impoverished children, HIV/AIDS, everything Africa. But that never really happened. I've come to accept that maybe this isn't my calling but just a temporary stop in finding a career that aligns with my passions and interests a little more. This morning, sitting in a room filled with so many breast cancer survivors, talking about one of the biggest breast cancer awareness events in the nation, I couldn't help but feel a little emotional, a little excited, and a little passionate about helping these women continue to survive and helping to prevent so many more women from having to fight to survive.

A young 33 year old woman shared her story of being diagnosed with breast cancer last year. She shared the struggles of losing her hair from chemotherapy, finding the strength to tell her two small daughters of her diagnosis, and trying to work full-time as a second grade teacher while battling the never-ending side effects. She shared her story with such honesty and compassion. She made me realize that breast cancer, or any other type of cancer for that matter, is something all young women should be thinking about - whether diagnosed or not. For some reason, SHE is the woman that put a face to breast cancer for me. I see nearly a hundred women a month that are diagnosed with breast cancer as a part of my job and none of them have ever stood out to me the way this woman did. Maybe it was how young she was, or the fact that she found the lump on her own. Maybe it was the fact that she was so honest about her cancer diagnosis and how unexpectedly something like this can happen. At some point, I knew it would happen - I knew that cancer would go from being a job to something more. That some point came today. While I certainly wouldn't call it my life passion, I've realized that the job I do impacts the lives of those living with cancer, those affected by a family member or friend's diagnosis, and those calling themselves survivors. My job allows me to participate in the fight against cancer every single day. My job isn't about raising money, it's about raising spirits, hope, and courage and that is equally as important in fighting cancer as raising money. I thank the woman this morning for sharing that with me, although it was likely something I already should have realized.

The Making Strides events are taking place across the nation in upcoming months. I plan to tell all my patients about the Milwaukee event taking place on May 1st and will encourage them to fight back by participating. I encourage you to do the same. With multiple events in each state, I'm certain you can find an event near you. By participating, you help raise awareness, hope, and dollars that are used to make sure people like the 33 year old woman I met this morning don't have to be the face of breast cancer anymore. So that WE don't ever have to be the face of breast cancer. That's a pretty powerful thing if you ask me.