Choosing to connect with other patients doesn't come without loss, but the benefit of being empowered by others makes you a better patient and more impassioned survivor.
BY Sarah DeBord
PUBLISHED October 19, 2018
Sarah DeBord was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer at age 34. In the years since, she has turned her diagnosis into a calling, and become an advocate for other young adults diagnosed with colorectal cancer and parents with young families facing cancer. She works as a communications and program manager for the Minneapolis-based Colon Cancer Coalition , volunteers her time with the online patient-led support community COLONTOWN , and blogs about her often adventurous experiences of living with chronic cancer at ColonCancerChick.com.
When I was first diagnosed, I was isolated with my disease. Aside from the occasional Google search for stories, I never felt the need to engage with anyone who had colon cancer. As one of those self-described independent tough chicks, I was fine looking after myself and didn't see the need to relate my experiences with a group of strangers.
But as I settled into my life with chronic cancer, I intersected with an opportunity to connect that was unavoidable. I resigned to the idea and thought it might be one way to face my life of endless chemotherapy and scans. Within weeks of joining the group, I wondered how I had eversurvived the first two years of treatment without a cancer community. All the sudden I was a keyboard away from others who understood what it was like to balance cancer and chemo; who understood how hard it was to do this with a baby on my hip, or what it was like to be the youngest in the infusion room.
But as I settled into my life with chronic cancer, I intersected with an opportunity to connect that was unavoidable. I resigned to the idea and thought it might be one way to face my life of endless chemotherapy and scans. Within weeks of joining the group, I wondered how I had eversurvived the first two years of treatment without a cancer community. All the sudden I was a keyboard away from others who understood what it was like to balance cancer and chemo; who understood how hard it was to do this with a baby on my hip, or what it was like to be the youngest in the infusion room.
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