Doctors who Care

Hi Everyone:
I want to share something very significant with you today. When I woke up this morning, Jason, my husband, insisted that I check out my fundraising website (www.active.com/donate/tntnyc/tntnycsblack). I went to the kitchen for coffee first and he followed with his laptop. This is a first for the laptop! So I wait as the out-of-date half-n-half curdles in my coffee-ARGH!- and the computer comes on and the site is opened. I have no reached $3200 of my $4000 goal! How?

So we watch as the names of those who have chosen to show the world what they donated to the site...and it comes up: Dr. Michael Kovacs $250. Now three people have generously donated $250 each to my site, including Dr. Kovacs. This one, however, is extra special to me.

When I was first diagnosed, I was encouraged to get a journal to record my appointments in. When you go through any kind of cancer treatment this is a good idea as your appointments are numerous, each very important. So I did. Dr. Kovacs wins hands down for the person I visited the most during my treatment, 12 years ago, in London, Ontario, Canada at the London Regional Cancer Center. He was the head of my oncology team. And after all this time,I've not so much as sent a note or visited. But I send him a letter now, telling him how grateful I am for his efforts in my survival and explaining to him what I am finally doing to show the world how grateful I am...and he donates to my site!

This means so much to me. I can physically, emotionally, and spiritually feel a huge part of me healing like some kind of miracle. The feeling is similar to the one I experienced durning my last appoinment on April 23, 1996 when I was told that I was clear of cancer. With Dr. Kovac's help, and his team of doctors, nurses, radiologists, hematologists and my family and friends, I have not had to look back. And yet now, I feel like I am standing on a mountain and as I turn around to look at the path that I have tread to this moment, I feel so much love and honor for the life I have been given a second chance at.

Thank you for reading this, I know it's been funny up until today. I promise to give you all the detailed antics of my continued training. But today I wanted to share with you the significance of this donation. There are others who have made my day brighter and brought me closer to my goal as well: my cousin Barb, whose father is my uncle who lost his battle to leukemia when he was twenty, my best friend Lil, whose mom lost her battle to breast cancer, my best friend Rachael whose mom lost her battle to lung cancer..the list goes on.

I want to thank everyone for their generosity, their opening of hearts and wallets alike. We are making it possible for those who cannot afford treatment to receive the financial aid they so desperately need, we are making it possible for researchers to make more and more sense out of what blood cancer is and how it works and how to stop it from taking more lives. We are making it possible for more people to have a second chance at life...and possibly creating an opportunity for more people to find their way to whatever marathon they have always dreamed of conquering.

The journal my mom gave me to record my appointments in is a journal I cherish. She picked it because of a poem it had on the front of it. Reading it now, is like a huge shining ray of light from heaven telling me that I have always been on the right path and it has led me to this very journey that I am on now:

Don't Quit- by Jill Wolf

Don't quit when the tide is lowest,
For it's just about to turn;
Don't quit over doubts and questions,
For there's something you may learn.

Don't quit when the night is darkest,
For it's just a while 'til dawn;
Don't quit when you've run the farthest,
For the race is almost won.

Don't quit when the hill is steepest,
For your goal is almost nigh;
Don't quit, for you're not a failure
Until you fail to try.

Weird, huh? More like Divine Intervention!

With love and gratitude for the morning sun everyday,
Shannon