Even before cancer I felt the urge to assist others, however post cancer it became essential. I sought a way to be part of the change. When I finished my last round of chemotherapy treatments and grasped I was going to live I felt an urge to face death and understand more deeply what I had escaped. Through this route I also realized I could support others who were going through the process I had just come out of, so I became a hospice volunteer. It was challenging and an incredible blessing to be a witness to the last days of people’s lives. Ruby was my first client and she lived only a couple weeks after I first met her. She could never thank me enough for being there and helping with her child, who was deaf. I was learning sign language, which became a tremendous assest in being able to support the whole family. I rode my bike across town every chance I had to visit her and her family. My last ride to her home was unknown to me. She had passed just hours before. Ruby’s funeral was the first time I witnessed a gospel choir and became part of a true celebration of life. Being on Ruby’s journey with her changed me forever.

Cancer remains an important cause for me. For almost 15 years now I have volunteered for an organization near and dear to my heart – the Women’s Cancer Resource Center (wcrc.org) from facilitating support groups to writing articles for their newsletter to providing workshops to their clients or spending time speaking with hundreds of individuals newly diagnosised with cancer. Currently, I am the chair of the local community cancer task force and part of the LiveSTRONG Army (http://www.livestrong.org) Surviving has given me a mission to support and work to change the path others will unfortunately follow behind me.

Now when I am not actively volunteering my life just feels empty.