How Being Sarah Came To Be

Through writing this blog, I've had the pleasure of "virtually" meeting so many incredibly talented, intelligent and interesting women.   Many of these women are also bloggers, and we enjoy flitting around cyberspace and visiting each other's sites, catching up on the latest news, engaging in lively debates, talking about life's highs and lows, appreciating and commenting on each other's writings, despite completely different styles and perspectives, and providing a wonderfully powerful network of support, helping each of us make sense of our cancer ordeals.  Many others visit our sites simply to read, reflect, and perhaps to remind themselves that they are not alone with their thoughts and struggles with this disease.

Indeed Chemobabe just published an amazing post on the power of this virtual community in "Over Our Heads" where she says;

"I cannot overstate the value of having a community of people who understand life under the dangling sword. Yet it’s hard to find companions on this journey. Typical support groups are not a match for me because I am unusually young to have this disease. Other women have different reasons for feeling alone."

One of these women whom I've been able to connect with is Sarah Horton, who writes a blog at Being Sarah .  Sarah has impressed me with the way she is able to articulate and channel her anger at having breast cancer, but also with the beautiful way in which she writes about life's simple pleasures, reminding us of the importance of finding a balance in coping with this hand that we have been dealt.

The other thing that struck me about Sarah, is that only three years after being diagnosed with breast cancer she achieved the tremendous feat of publishing her book, "Being Sarah", a narrative about enduring breast cancer, her anger at having developed it in the first place, her views on the politics of the breast cancer culture, balanced with how she has continued to live her life in the face of this adverse circumstance.

Recalling the ordeal of my first round of treatment back in 2004, after my initial diagnosis, all I can remember is how overwhelmed I felt; the constant struggle against the side-effects of chemotherapy, as well as the physical debilitation of all those surgeries and radiation.  But mostly, I just remember the constant mind-numbing fatigue, and the daily struggle of just getting out of bed and putting on my clothes to be ready to face a new day.  I barely knew my own name.

This begs the question as to how on earth does anybody endure breast cancer treatment AND write a book on top of it all? My mind boggles in thinking about this, which is why I was so interested to hear more about how Sarah was able to accomplish this incredible feat.

Please click here to read 'The Story of Being Sarah", published via my sister blog, Can-Do Women.