A 2ND ACT {stories of perseverance}
KEEP CALM AND LIVE A 2ND ACT There’s healing in helping. Judy Pearson | Contributing Writer
You’ve no doubt heard the words, “Physician, heal thyself.” I’m applying a slight twist to that this month by saying, “Writer, write about thyself.” When I approached Frontdoors about creating a column spotlighting organizations that had been created out of personal experience, it was because I had done just that. And insomuch as June 3 is the 31st annual National Cancer Survivors Day, it seemed fitting to spotlight my organization, A2ndAct.org. I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in April 2011. It was the worst possible time — I was a newlywed and my son was deploying to Afghanistan. But in reality, does cancer ever come at a good time? 44 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | JUNE 2018
I had thoroughly researched mastectomies and chemotherapy, but it never occurred to me to research survivorship. At the end of it all, I figured the old Judy would just jump out of the chemo cake. I learned quickly that cancer doesn’t end when treatment does. Joint pain, night sweats, brain fog, chronic fatigue and insomnia descended on me like a swarm of locusts. And the guilt. I had survived my cancer while many didn’t; who was I to complain? So many others had far worse collateral damage from their journeys. And the greatest puzzle of all? What purpose did cancer serve in my life? I came across some pre-cancer research I had done about the health benefits
