“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself
helping others.” – Mahatma Ghandi
Let me tell you about my friend Maria. She had breast cancer just like I did. Why? We ask ourselves this at the time of diagnosis and when we are going through our treatments and surgeries. It’s a time of fighting for your life, fighting to get to the other side of this illness, and reflecting along the way. On December 18, My Breast Choice made a visit to the Chemo Infusion Unit at UT Southwestern Simmons Cancer Center. We had gift bags in tow for the patients. At the last minute I needed another helper and asked Maria if she would like to come. Her response to me was “Yes, because last year at this time, I was that chemo patient!” As we visited patients, she would tell them, “I was here last year. My hair started falling out on Christmas Eve.” So here we were, less than a year later and she looks healthy with a full head of hair. That resonated with each patient that day. They wanted to be on the other side of chemo like she was now.
What they didn’t see, is that Maria’s journey wasn’t quite over. On her birthday in January, she was scheduled for surgery for nipple reconstruction. It’s not a difficult surgery or recovery, but it is like the frosting on the cake. You see, it was after the nipple reconstruction that I began to feel whole again. I think Maria feels the same way. My biggest hope for her is that she was able to find herself by helping others as we did that day in the chemo unit. Perhaps it is things like this that answers that question “Why?”
