Bigger than Cancer

Fellow blogger Nancy Stordahl (Nancy’s Point) left a comment on an earlier post that got me thinking. She said, “…we are all linked by so much more than cancer.”

She is so very right. Cancer is what led us to one another, to the #bcsm, the breast cancer blogosphere and twitterverse in which we write and debate and argue and learn, to one another as sources of strength among those who understand this journey in ways that loved ones often do not.

Community is shared moments…

On February 6, 2012 we lost both Rachel and Susan. For some, those of us who knew them personally, or had off-line relationships with them, the loss was deeper than for others. But whether we knew these women, heard of them, learned from them…their deaths reverberated around the world, as we came together to mourn and remember.

That same week we watched together as the venerable Susan G. Komen for the Cure began to unravel. We knew it was coming. We had watched and warned as Komen abandoned its “promise” to find a cure in favor of building a brand. Despite deep animosity for Komen, not one of us was cheered by this. Komen’ s deep pockets have the power to change the face of breast cancer. Our hope for an end to breast cancer hinges on the harnessing and maximizing focused resources on the most promising of research areas. Cooperation and collaboration, not division and derision.

Community is a coming together…

Another hallmark of this incredible community is its openness. All are welcome. Truly. We are a global community of survivors, caregivers and healers. We are seek to be open-minded and understanding, filled with love and respect. While many of us come and go, based on the demands of otherwise busy lives, many of us continue to seek solace and support here.

Community is a shared future…

At the heart of this community likes our deep desire to see an end to this disease. For ourselves, our sisters and mothers, our daughters and theirs… We arrive without egos, each journey as right as the next, grateful to be alive (even when it’s n awful day) and hoping to be here the day we find a “cure.”

A community, after all, is more than a group of people with common threads, but rather a group of people who cast their lot together. What keeps us together, what forms this community, is so much bigger, stronger than cancer…it is each other.