Game Day: A Different Kind of Victory

Dropping the puck for BC Support, 2019 Still Showing Up!

There is something about the days leading up to a CT scan that feels different.

For those of us living with stage IV cancer, these scans are our game day.

Before my recent scan, I felt the love.

Messages, prayers, kind words, and quiet check-ins.

Your support matters in my healing.

Living with stage IV cancer changes the language of hope.

At this stage, we may not hear the words:

"You are cured."

But we listen just as closely for words that carry their own kind of power:

Stable. No progression.

Decreased lesions.

No evidence of active disease.

These words become our victories.

They become our milestones.

They become our way forward.

This week, I received encouraging news from my CT scan. My oncology general practitioner shared that she was pleased to tell me my lesions have decreased.

I will meet with my oncologist to review everything in detail and discuss next steps. But for now, I am sitting with gratitude.

Gratitude for the treatment that is working.

Gratitude for a body that continues to respond.

Gratitude for the ability to keep living fully alongside cancer, in the midst of uncertainty.

Living with stage IV cancer is not about waiting for life to begin again.

It is about living now.

It is about:

Showing up for the moments that matter.

Taking care of mind, body, and spirit.

Holding both reality and hope in the same breath.

To those who reached out, who held me in your thoughts, who whispered prayers or sent a simple message,

Thank you.

You were with me on game day.

And I carry that with me as I continue to rise. 💚