I Believe in Silver Linings
When I see a glass I don’t debate whether it is half full or half empty. I’m just happy that I have a glass!
On April 18th of 2006 I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. I had a five centimeter tumor and my only surgical option was having a mastectomy. This meant that I would have to have my left breast removed.
When I found out I had breast cancer, one of my first thoughts was that I would survive, I was not going to let breast cancer take me away from my family. Fortunately for me, I was diagnosed before the cancer had metastasized and my prognosis was pretty good. I didn’t know that at the time, but this lack of knowing didn’t stop me from believing. I knew deep in my soul that not only would I survive, but that somehow there was a larger purpose behind this experience, a silver lining.
Having surgery and going through chemotherapy was tough. My body changed, my life changed, sometimes not in very positive ways (weight gain, fatigue, memory and attention issues), but all of these changes can be overcome with the willingness to adapt.
Many of the ways that this experience changed me were positive. I used to sit in the back of the room, now I go straight to the front. I used to be afraid to speak up, now I know that if I don’t, who will? I used to live in the past and even sometimes in the imaginary future, now I am content in the moment. I used to take my life, my friends and my family for granted; now I am grateful to be alive and to have such wonderful friends and family with whom to share my life. I used to want to help people and now I do.
By facing my own mortality and working through the fear, by realizing that no one has any control over what the universe has planned for them, by giving up that false sense of control and having faith that I would be okay, I have learned to appreciate that glass, regardless of what, if anything, is inside. For me the glass is my silver lining!
By: Sabrina Wright-Hobart
Denver Metropolitan Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure
