When this cancer diagnosis quietly crept into my life February of 2025, my 50th high school reunion was about to take place. It was poised to be a BIG event, perhaps not in number of attendees, but in significant reconnections after five decades of living disparate lives. Two other classmates and I had been working on and organizing the weekend for the prior 9 months when I received the diagnosis. There were still so many event details to lock down including venue, food, parking, music, memorial slide show, school tour, decorations, door prizes, and photography – oh and collecting payments from 96 attendees. Then in waltzes cancer.
The reunion weekend (3/28-29) was actually a welcome distraction from medical uncertainties looming ahead in the next few months. I got to be “Carol without cancer” for a few hours. Laugh. Hug. Tell stories. Remember our younger selves.
On Friday before the official reunion events kicked off, a cluster of our closest childhood girlfriends gathered for lunch to reconnect in a small setting. It was a time of deeper sharing than would be possible during the large group events. One of the girlfriends surprised me by presenting Team Carol t-shirts to each of us. The design had the pink breast cancer ribbon incorporated. What a touching moment and I was humbled to tears by the gesture. I wept. Not from fear, but because I was overwhelmed by feelings of gratitude for these special ladies and our bonds that had lasted across 50+ years. I’m truly blessed to have these prayer sisters. We posed for a group photo as they pledged to hold me in prayer through each step of this odyssey.
Prayer warriors geared up from other walks of my life as well — our church, my brother’s church, neighbors, churches we’d attended in the past, work friends, and of course family. I never felt alone in this journey, especially with the Holy Spirit leading the way and guiding my steps. I read so many medical books those first few months, but also devoured devotional books that kept pointing me back to the most reliable source of strength and hope – my heavenly Father. Yahweh. Abba. The Holy Trinity.
A terrific devotional book called 50 Days Of Hope came from one of my prayer sisters. It walks through so many of the questions and doubts and a foundation for facing each fear. If you want to check it out, the Amazon link is here. It was so uplifting to me during those first couple of months that I’ve recommended it to several friends since.
“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. It is not enough that a thing be possible for it to be believed.” Voltaire
My Next Steps 