The Forever Fighters Story
In 2010 I was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. My treatment was only 4 months long with chemotherapy. I say “only” because the hardest part of my cancer journey was surviving. Treatment was 4 months. But struggling and navigating my new normal was 4 years or more. At the start of my diagnosis and beginning of treatment I said cancer wouldn’t affect my life. But little did I know, I had no control over that. I lost my hair, gained weight from the steroids, my joints were achy making dancing difficult, I was irritable and felt sick 50% of the time. I still went to school most of the time except for the days I was at treatment or stayed home to rest. Even tired and feeling a little nauseous, I would force myself to get to school. I was determined to stay “normal”. However, that just didn’t happen. I went through my sweet 16 having cancer. Happy birthday to me, right? 2 months after turning 16 I was declared cancer free and dropped back into the real world. Oh, how uneasy that was.
I was angry at the world. I didn’t know how to deal with my anxiety/depression and survivors’ guilt, and I couldn’t comprehend that I looked nothing like I did only a few months earlier.
I remember going “mute” for a couple days in high school. I said, maybe, only a couple words at a time. My friends were concerned for me, but I just couldn’t function.
During this time of surviving I was positive on one thing. That I wanted to help the children and teens still fighting their own battle with cancer. A few months after treatment was over, I started a non-profit called Fancy Feet. My best friend and I set out on a mission to provide cute decorated flip flops to the children and teens still in the hospital. We wanted to give them something fun to wear on their feet during treatment! The thought behind it was “even when you are feeling and looking down, the flip flops will be there to make you smile and bring your chin back up”. The care packages started to be incorporated into our mission and eventually we went solely to providing personalized care packages. However, I felt something was missing.
I realized during my surviving stage, I felt so lonely. I hated that. I hated feeling as if no one understood me. I went on a search for other survivors, but it wasn’t so easy. So, I realized what was missing, I wanted to help survivors just as much as patients! Because for me, surviving was just as hard (sometimes harder) than the actual treatment.
Fancy Feet became Forever Fighters. The idea behind it is “we are forever fighting”. We fight to beat cancer then we fight to survive and live life to the fullest. The “F” in the logo is a triangle because a triangle is one of the strongest shapes. It can withstand extreme pressure, weight and force. It takes a lot for a triangle to fully collapse. We may feel weak, sad, and alone at times but what’s important is we keep fighting, surviving and living.
Tri-Cities cancer survivor helps patients through nonprofit organization!
