whatever words I say…

will not help…

this post may be a bit demented. Today has been a bitch. BITCH!!

today I have been thinking about the day my friend Gaynor died. Of ovarian cancer – it simply grabbed her, shook her and didn't let go. It was like a monster. It IS a monster – but on this occasion, it was more monsterish than usual.

She fought like a tiger. And she really did; she did all the right things – green tea, the 'right' food, lots of exercise etc. She was a tiny little person with a ton of energy - she wore amazing shoes – she gave wonderful advice. She was a good friend to me in the short time we knew one another. 

What the fuck happened? Oh. Yes. Ovarian Cancer happened.

I am amazed – more than a whole year has passed since she was alive?? No. But – yes. Today was odd – I spent it thinking of her death – usually thoughts of Gaynor are of her life. She made a huge impression on me, helping me with my confidence with just one sentence.

But today my thoughts  were of death. Gaynor's death. And how unfair things can be sometimes.

louder than silence louder than bells…

Laurel – where are you my friend?

Laurel with Diane :)

attitude is everything…

 

The LIVESTRONG Manifesto. Unity is strength. Knowledge is power. Attitude is everything.

…the part where the man shaves his head made me cry…I am SO grateful to be alive!!

liveSTRONG day

Check out this post on winosandfoodies - enter if you can. Me, I'm useless at cooking / baking things…but even if you don't fancy cooking yellow food [or LiveSTRONG day], it's a cool site.

This is a direct copy / paste of part of the winosandfoodies post. Go there to see the zillions of yellow things from 2009. I never knew there was so much yellow food in the world! And go here to see what Janell is up to too…

Here's the winosandfoodies post:

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"More than 12 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer and eight million will die from the disease each year. Worldwide, cancer will be the leading cause of death by 2010.

I don't know if I'll ever be free of cancer. Thanks to modern drugs I live with cancer. Drugs that weren't available when my father died of cancer in 2003. Once a fortnight I receive a 30 minute infusion of Avastin. It blocks the blood supply to the tumours, inhibiting their growth. It works differently to chemotherapy and has some side effects, but is easier on the body than chemo.  I consider myself  fortunate to live in a country where the drug is available. Not everyone is so lucky.

Which is why it is  important to raise awareness of cancer issues  globally. This year the Lance Armstrong Foundation went global. To date organisations, corporations, advocates and world leaders from 51 countries have made a commitment to fight cancer. 

For those of us living with cancer we live with hope. Hope....that someday there will be a cure....the chemotherapy will destroy the cancer cells and leave our good  cells alone......we won't need more surgery. Most of all we live with  hope in our hearts...... hope we will grow old with our partners, hope we will see our children grow up,  hope we will enjoy a lifetime of family celebrations and holidays, hope will be around to celebrate birthdays and weddings and new babies and friendships.

The challenge is on for 2010. Let's see if we can get entries from all 51 countries."

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