OCT 11, 2018 – Because there’s not a person on this planet who hasn’t been touched in some way by breast cancer, you can likely share a story or two of strength and courage, fear and confusion that you’ve either witnessed or experienced. Just yesterday, a Cardie emailed us, “I wanted to thank you all for helping me figure out the right words for the right time, and for helping me to lift such an amazing person when she is having a hard time standing on her own.”
October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re thinking of our own longtime Michigan Sales Rep, Jan Flaherty, who nearly a year ago wrote us, “I would like you to know that I have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and will undergo surgery next week. I am hopeful that, with the early detection and small size, all will go well, recovery will be complete, and I’ll soon be back on the road. There is always the unknown until surgery tells the story!!! I will try to proceed positively and learn much from this new Life Lesson so I can pay it forward as so many people are doing for me now.” Because Jan is very much alive – in the best sense of that word! – and now well, we asked her to tell us all how something as humble and little as a card can make such a big difference. Here’s what she had to say:
No one who has had a mammogram every year for many, many – test after test – with no family history of breast cancer, expects to get this diagnosis. But, when you do, the journey/battle begins. I called my daughter Kelly in Chicago the morning I got the news; she left work and, without going home, was on my doorstep four hours later – my living, breathing support & encouragement card! The first paper card arrived with the most poignant message written by my grandson’s girlfriend … Grace sent it with a t-shirt she’d had made with “Jan Flaherty is a Badass” in pink letters. :) I know you may not be able to print the word “badass” in your story, but it really became my battle cry.
My beautiful granddaughter, Emily, presented me with a pink scarf she knitted herself, with a card that I will keep and reread forever. I wore that pink scarf to every radiation treatment. More strength! And the man I married 53 years ago has always been, was all year, and is today my rock; Patrick even helped me keep all the stores’ card selections fresh and tidy so I could keep doing what I love.
“I know you may not be able to print the word ‘badass’ in your story, but it really became my battle cry.”
– NOW-HEALTHY JAN FLAHERTY
As word got around, cards began arriving. There were little note cards with words of support. Many people, whom I never knew had gone through it, shared their stories of surviving this insidious disease. There were so many cards from friends, family, and even people I barely knew who had heard my news through the grapevine. The cards kept coming before and after surgery, and through six weeks of daily radiation. And every single one – each in its own way – gave me strength, a smile, and hope.
Maybe because I’ve been around cards nearly all day every day for decades, before breast cancer I had become somewhat lax about sending them. I will not be that person ever again. I now send cards constantly. I know the difference they make, and I want to make a difference. Because, when all is said and done, having cancer – no matter what stage it is or where it is – is a really lonely journey of awaiting results, the next steps, the surgeries, the treatments, and the fear of it coming back. “The night demons,” I call them. Cards help get us away from those thoughts, and out of dark places.
While I am luckier than many, indeed, I am not unique or special. I am but one of 330,000 women slapped with this shocking diagnosis each year. The Pink Warriors. Take it from me, they will be forever grateful for your good wishes, prayers, and cards. ?
