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Life Redefined: Making Thyroid Cancer Personal
In the previous two installments of this column (here and here), I’ve shared with you statistics about thyroid cancer. I shared those with you because numbers can be powerful. Seeing a number that tells us how fast the incidence of thyroid cancer is growing is eye-opening. Seeing a number that tells us how many people are expected to die from thyroid cancer this year alone makes us want to invoke change. We want those numbers to start declining. Numbers are important for raising awareness, but stories are also so very important because they make thyroid cancer personal. I’ve shared My Cancer Story with you before, so today I want to bring your attention to the stories of other thyroid cancer survivors. Today we’re going to put some faces to thyroid cancer and make this personal.
These are letters that have been published on DearThyroid.org during this month alone. Read these names. Absorb these stories. Raise awareness.
Monica shares her story in her letter Hello: Family and Friends, Am I Not Suffering Enough For You To Feel Strong Enough To Catch Me? Monica reminds us that thyroid cancer isn’t over when the surgeon performs the thyroidectomy. Even if it’s not physically a part of us anymore, thyroid cancer stays with us forever.
Justi was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009. In her story Thyroid Cancer, When All Was Said, I Was Done she talks about having to redefine her life after being diagnosed with cancer. Getting back to “normal” does not happen overnight because “normal” has completely changed.
In A Break-up Letter, Deb so painstakingly describes the emotions and hardships she went through before having her thyroid removed and receiving the diagnosis of cancer. In spite of all that she’s been through, she is standing strong.
In 1981, Caroline was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. However, her experience with cancer doesn’t end in 1981. In her letter So Many Cancers, So Little Time…In College, As An Adult, And, In Life, Caroline tells about dealing with multiple cancers and doctors not properly following up. And now, after 29 years of living without a thyroid, she’s facing the possibility of a recurrence. Cancer is cruel.
Ah, Thyroid Cancer, The Breakfast of Champions. Keira’s story is full of raw emotion. Her sister has Hashimoto’s. Her mother had thyroid cancer. Keira? Well she has both. Though she is still figuring out how to deal with being betrayed by her thyroid, she has resolved to not let her thyroid win.
Brianna grieves for her thyroid. In her story RAIere You When I Needed You?, Brianna expresses her appreciation for her thyroid when it was functioning properly, before it was overtaken with cancer. Although she misses her thyroid, she wants to move on. As she knows, that’s easier said than done.
As she expresses in her letter Dear Thyroid, I Miss You, Robin also misses the healthy thyroid that once was a resident in her neck. She knows that a pill will never fully replace her thyroid. Nothing can replace it. Robin feels the absence of her thyroid, but admits that its absence has made her stronger.
In Thycanchondria?!, Judy shares the feelings of worry, sadness, loneliness, and fear that cancer imprinted on her life. She yearns for the “normal” she had before she was diagnosed with cancer. She wants her family to understand that she’s still feeling the aftershocks of cancer. For Judy, and for all thyroid cancer survivors, it’s not over.
Cancer Took My Dignity And So Much More, But I Cannot Let You Win This War is the story of Every Survivor. This story lays it all out there—cancer can rob us of our friends, our family, our dignity, our pride, our self-respect. The list goes on and on. But when we stand together as a unified front, cancer will not win this war.
Every single story is important. When we share our stories, we are telling the world that this cancer is REAL. We are telling the world that this is not a good cancer. It’s not an easy cancer. And its presence is not welcome. When we share our stories, we are raising awareness and making a difference.
What’s your story?
xoxo,
Joanna
Tags: Dear Thyroid letters submitted by thyroid cancer survivors, Life Redefined Making Thyroid Cancer Personal written by Joanna Isbill, mental effects of thyroid cancer, physical effects of thyroid cancer, stories of thyroid cancer survivors, thyroid cancer awareness, thyroid cancer awareness month, thyroid cancer column, Thyroid Cancer in Young Adults Column
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4 Responses to “Life Redefined: Making Thyroid Cancer Personal”
Leave a Reply to Amanda
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Joanna,
I agree 100%. We, thyroid patients/cancer survivors, need to read and understand each other’s stories. I have read as many as I can get my hands/eyes on. It not only gives a better understanding of our own illness, but greater empathy for all types of thyroid disease. To me it has been a vital part of getting my sanity back, finding people who have “been there”. I continue to read on about things that aren’t exactly what I have experienced, because I want to understand more about how this has affected others. I don’t think, in my lifetime I can ever read and understand all variations of what thyroid disease has done to the “us”. But I will keep trying.
Thank you for continuing to point me in different directions!
Amanda
Hi Joanna,
The statistics are important for raising awareness but the stories are more important in my opinion. As a survivor I wish I could say I knew what to expect after the fact. I made so many foolish mistakes, not necessarily ignorning my health issues but not correlating them to being thyroidless. Doctors don’t often tell us how our levels being off can affect us mind, body and soul. Four years into this emotional and physical roller coaster ride I am hopeful that others can gather information and put all the pieces together sooner than later. If I had had stories to read it would have helped me immensely and I would not have wasted precious time confusing symptoms.
Thank you as always for doing what you do.
Donna xo
Thank you, Amanda! Yes, sharing our stories is SO important. Listening to others’ stories is even more important because that’s how we learn and that’s how we get inspired to invoke change!!
Thank you for always sharing your story with us so openly and willingly!
xoxo,
Joanna
Donna, I agree! After I was diagnosed with cancer I cared WAY more about other survivors’ stories than I did about what cancer organizations had to say. Stories are so important because they make the disease REAL.
Thank you for always being so supportive!
xoxo,
Joanna