Hope is Contagious

I love this photo. It spoke to me today about contrasts:  the smile in spite of the cold, the sparkle of a red scarf against the pale sky of early winter.  All of us know someone who manages to prevail despite the odds, the person who sparkles in the face of stunning adversity. We don't always how, but sometimes we can sense a miracle in process, a diamond where there was nothing but coal.

At this moment I could list people who are in treatment for cancer, either between treatments, waiting for treatments, or waiting for bone marrow transplants -- who would be the first one at a party to make sure YOU were comfortable. These are the men and women who want to know if you are doing OK even while their blood counts are plummeting. They know something about the harsh facts of life that most of us rarely brush up against.  They need our strength.  And as importantly, we need them.  To keep us real.

Within the last several months I have met some extraordinary people, starting with Lynn Lane, the excecutive director of  Voices of Survivors (www.voicesofsurvivors.com), an incredible video project that gives a face and voice to individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer.  From the LiveStrong Global Cancer Summit  I have come to know advocates and bloggers from around the world, notably Marie Ennis O'Connor, who has encouraged my work and advocacy, along with fellow survivors and advocates from the Netherlands, across the U.S., Canada and Japan.  These relationships encourage and inspire me.  My own focus evolves.  Hope grows.

In the next few months this blog will change.  I'm moving from my work for the LiveStrong Challenge (which always continues) to building a community for all women with cancer.  As a breast cancer survivor I've always felt that the rest of our sisters -- with cancers of the blood and bone, lung, bladder, ovaries, lymph system -- were somehow shortchanged.  I can tell you a million things about breast cancer but know that lung cancer kills more women on a yearly basis.  And with advancements changing every day I want to create a place women can turn to for updates.   This new effort -- Women With Cancer -- will become a place where any woman with cancer will feel at home.

I hope you will stay with me and share your thoughts about this journey.  Please comment.  Pass the link on to a friend.  Write me.  Tell me what you think.  Our time is never enough.  And today, this is where  I begin.

With love,
Jody