Who do you call when your Best Friend has cancer?

I find myself making more lists than usual these days and that's hard because I LOVE my lists. One set for me, one set for my best friend.

Who do you call when your best friend is diagnosed with cancer?

Julie is absolutely astounding. She is the most patient and kind teacher I know yet as she has always taught in the inner city she has a "take no crap" attitude that let's students and parents know not to mess with all 5'4" of her.  She is a single mom of three children and has been since she announced she was pregnant with their third child and her husband promptly walked out. They are amazing children and it is all because of her.  Her daughter who is 18 has physical and developmental delays and has spent a better part of her life in Children's Hospital - over 60 surgeries in her lifetime.  All of this, Julie has handled, on her own.

But you don't handle cancer all on your own. It doesn't work that way and we all know it.  Because at this point it has touched all of our lives. We all know someone who has had surgery, radiation, chemo, or hospice. I wish it wasn't this way.

After I won the Cancer Lottery someone asked me to write something about my experience and present it to a group.  I couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt like a cheater using the words Cancer survivor to make others happy when what I really felt like phony.  I had one surgery, got new boobs, and I was done. There was nothing to survive - no gut wrenching, energy sucking, hair losing, body poisoning chemo and radiation.

If cancer is a race - I ran the sprint and won. And when my friend called to say they think I have cancer I fell to my knees and begged God to please - let it be a sprint! Because who else do you call when your best friend has cancer?