where hopegrows

Kris Olson Shares Hope In A Cancer Journey

abeautiful new sculpture in the Essentia Health Cancer Center in Fargo allows people recently diagnosed with cancer to find hope. Standing well over five feet tall, metal branches and a bronze bowl beckon you to come and reflect.

Kris Olson, a breast cancer survivor, calls the piece “Where Hope Grows,” and she wants all who enter the cancer center to know the hope she felt during her journey. At the start of their journey, patients are given a coin. As a survivor, they are invited to place their coin in the bowl. The bowl of coins will represent the hope that Olson wants to share with people, providing a visual reminder of all the survivors who have come before them.

Olson and her family donated the sculpture after the death of her parents to honor their lives.

“Breast cancer wasn’t even on my radar,” Olson recounts. I didn’t know of a family history until after my diagnosis in May 2017.”

Her diagnosis of stage 3A breast cancer came at an already turbulent time in her life. Her mom, Merle, had recently died, and the health of her dad, John, was failing. As doctors would later tell her, she was emotionally at risk.

“A diagnosis is just a word,” Olson says she has learned. “There is so much more behind a stage and your diagnosis. Everyone’s pathology is different and every treatment plan unique.

“If you’ve met two people with breast cancer, you have to know that you’ve simply met two people with breast cancer,” the Fargo woman continues. “Do not put them into one big bucket.”

As she reflects on her experience, Olson says, “The treatment protocol is the same regardless of where you are treated, but the relationships you form on this journey are what sets a place apart. The relationships I formed at Essentia Health made all the difference in my care. I can’t emphasize the relationship enough.”

Olson says she found skilled medical professionals that focused on her specific pathology and developed a plan for treatment. Olson underwent some chemotherapy but ultimately had to stop due to a horrific reaction, she had two surgeries and 19 lymph nodes removed before beginning radiation.

“My diagnosis scared me to death,” Olson recalls. “I just needed someone to tell me it was going to be OK and the people at Essentia did just that. They told me, ‘It’s going to be OK. Here’s what we are going to do, and here are the resources that will help you through.’”

Between Olson and her parents, they endured four different cancers. Neither her mother nor father died of their cancers and, Olson says, “I likely won’t either. There is hope after a cancer diagnosis.”

Olson reflects back and says, “I learned through my diagnosis that no one is the same. Every cancer patient is unique and every single day there are survivors. Hope, compassion and empathy are so important,” she adds. “There are people out there who will help you navigate this journey because you don’t have to be out there alone.”

“Cancer saved my life,” Olson says, acknowledging that statement might be hard for some to understand and certainly not everyone will agree.

“I’ve made many changes to my life after breast cancer,” she explains. “I am much more aware of what I’m putting into my body, including food but also nail polish, makeup and cleaning products in our home. I’m also advocating for selfcare, meditation, good sleep, and my personal wellness is a top priority.”

Olson also changed the way she talks with someone diagnosed with cancer. “I don’t apologize. I don’t even ask if I can help, I just do.”