Is my Testimony Less powerful?

Although I wake up every day knowing how blessed I am to still be alive, the month of October is always different because it is Breast Cancer Awareness month and the month that I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  To be given such devastating news at age thirty with no history of cancer in your family background, your only thought is, “I am going to die!”  For the first five years after the diagnosis that’s how I lived my life, as though I was dying. Today I live life to the fullest with anticipation for tomorrow and many years to come.  There are times when I hear about someone I know who has lost the battle, and of course I ask God why am I still here.  I read about the husband, the young children, and wonderful friends they left behind and I’m reminded that I’ve lived a full life with all those things yet I’m still thriving.  Why?  What do I have to offer that I haven’t already given to this world?  There is never an answer so I continue to do what I have done since the day I was diagnosed and that is tell my story.

As I look around and see people going through such traumatic experiences with this dreaded disease I realize how blessed I am to not have had any of the problems that others are going through.  Nobody looks forward to the chemo or radiation that is recommended to fight off the cancer cells, but I had no problems with both during my treatment.  Some people have to be on various forms of chemo for years.  I only did six months and never got sick.  Matter of fact, I worked every day and left early for my treatments so that I could go to the comfort of my home.  Another interesting factor is I never lost my hair, instead it grew and became more beautiful.  Praise God the cancer has never returned in any form anywhere in my body for all these years.  So this month, I ask myself and the world, “Is my testimony less powerful?”  No it is not!  Thirty-four years breast cancer free.  That’s powerful!