Call No One Wants

It is the call no one wants to give or get.  I have breast cancer.

I have unfortunately been on both sides of that phone call. Given the statistics, many of you have also. It is the call where you explain, or witness, the deepest disruption of peace and well-being one might ever know, the rationalizing of your life and circumstances, the most confusing “how and why” this happened to me… and usually some sort of self-blame statement that starts with some form of I “should have…”
We all have to deal with our own should-haves that surround a cancer diagnosis, but looking beyond that to how we can help each other, perhaps we can re-frame the phrase should have for the benefit of all of us who are in this journey together:
We should have done more.
We should have more options.
We should have a better understanding of cancer.Research, testing and the dissemination of knowledge is critical to the development of new treatments that work, and new laws that create a better environment in which all of us can live.  Organizations like the National Breast Cancer Foundation do this work on our behalf, to better understand the disease and its causes and to turn the should into could and, finally, did.Join us to help create a world where our sisters and mothers, our daughters and friends are not at risk.  We have a long way to go.  We should be able to make it with each other’s help, and great organizations like the NBCF.During the month of October, Waxing Poetic will donate a portion of all sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.