A survivor story from the 3-Day - 27 years!

At the end of the 3-Day, the survivors line up in pairs and march into the arena together after all the other walkers are already in for the closing ceremony. While we were watching the long stream of walkers go by us - 2300 people - the 400 survivors stood and talked about who they were, and how far out they were.

The woman behind me in the line was 27 years out; she's 69, and she was 32 when she was diagnosed. She didn't remember her staging, but she had a Halsted radical mastectomy and chemotherapy, so that tells us something. She had three small children at the time, and she told me that, like many of us, she just prayed that she would see them grow old.

When she was diagnosed she made herself a tape that she played for herself every night, in which she told herself the story of her future life, saying things like, "I will see my son graduate from high school. I will attend my daughter's wedding. I will rock my grandchildren to sleep." I don't know if this helped or not....but it made me think I might do the same thing (on CD!). I know that a positive attitude will not cure cancer (if it did I wouldn't have gotten it in the first place!) but it sounds very affirming and life-embracing to me.

She's a grandma now to SIX grandchildren; she has rocked them all to sleep. She didn't miss any graduations, nor weddings. She's still NED, and at 69 she was spry enough to walk 60 miles and smile at the end, offering encouragement to many of us.

There wasn't a dry eye around.