Today is the 3rd annual BlogDay. It also marks (more or less) the 8th month anniversary of Holly’s diagnosis of Stage 3 Colon Cancer. Not a great day in our lives, but we are well passed the half way point, which gives us some comfort.
Throughout This Silliness, we have found amazing inspiration through a collection of bloggers who are documenting their bouts with cancer. The rules of BlogDay are fairly simple, identify 5 blogs that I find interesting, link to them and add a link to BlogDay somewhere in the post. Easy, peasy.
I have about 20+ cancer related blogs that I subscribe to. In fact, this gives me motivation to do something with the side bar in terms of a feed. Let’s see if I actually accomplish that. While all of the blogs that I read are exceptional in their own way, here are 5 that I come back to more than regularly. In no particular order.
1.) Derek K. Miller - Penmachine - Derek’s photostream on Flickr was what originally inspired me to start this blog. He is a fantastic writer, focusing on his fight with colon cancer, technology and has awesome taste in music. I not only read his stuff to stay current on his struggle with cancer, but also to stay current on things that I deal with at work.
2.) Help Isabel - When a 5 year old has leukemia and her mother has the strength to write about it every single day, it is amazing stuff. Isabel is an inspiration to us all.
3.) Cancer is the Easy Part / Life With Heathens - Cancer is hard enough when you can pronounce what you have. Jo at CitEP / LWH blogs about her experience with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2a, Medullary Thyroid Cancer and other little bits that life throws at her and continues to have an amazing attitude through it all. She has also been a wonderful part of the H4H community.
4.) My Cancer, Leroy Sievers - No list of cancer blogs would be complete without him. He is the writer I aspire to be.
5.) YouTumor - Shortly after Holly was diagnosed, I received an email that stated “We have some stuff in common. My name is Scott, I
work in technology, and, unfortunately my wife also has cancer.” From that day on, I was hooked. Scott also likes the Simpsons and making awesome pop culture references. Fortunately, his wife is doing well and they are moving to London. Scott and Beth both have infectious positive attitudes that make their posts really fun to read.
I could go on all night. There are so many good blogs out there and it is great to see everyone being open about their experiences. Next year…
Hopefully next year, all will be well and I can focus on other sites.
Thank you for including me. I will always come back to this blog and I’m always sending strong thoughts to Holly. I’ve said it before but you two are just amazing.
Hugz
We have a lot in common too.
I intially read about Holly after following the link from your construction site. We are using Craig Rogers and I found it interesting that you started demo in October and ended in May, where as we started in May and are suppose to finish in October.
Yours and Holly’s energy follow us as we visit the different showrooms. I have said more than once, during a difficult remodel decision, “We’ll take what the Schnaars picked”. Your taste is amazing.
I lost my mom three years ago to pancreatic cancer, so I can relate fully to the surreal (smoking in the hospital parking lot?) situations you guy are going through.
What I want to say is that this blog has so affected me. I just drove my friend home last week from her first colonoscopy. Did it look like fun? No way, but will I be there on my 40th birthday? You betcha.
Holly, you are touching people, saving lives and making the world a better place. Hair or no hair, you are beautiful. I admire your grace, you will rise above the silliness.
Keep up the fight against this dreaded disease. And spread the word that an ounce of prevention……….is worth a pound of cure. Elizabeth ignored her symptoms till it was almost to late. Everyone we know is acutely aware of what to do, after hearing Elizabeth’s story.
Holly,
Wow. The head-shaving video is great, powerful, stuff. I don’t think you need the scarf, however…it’s beautiful as-is.
Keep the strength and hope going. You are an inspiration.
Love, Ben
Hello All,
I was reading around some of the posts here and I found interesting things that you guys talk about, I just made a blog about quitting smoking resources and ideas that you might want to check out.
If someone is interested in this topic just go to; http://endthehabitnow.blogspot.com and let me know what you think. Your honest feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.