ROAR: Reclaiming Ourselves After Recovery

01/31/2022

A fortuitous finding led to Leigh Pate being diagnosed with lobular breast cancer and her eventual advocacy for the cause.

02/18/2021

"Here’s the deal. The human soul doesn’t want to be advised or fixed or saved. It simply wants to be witnessed — to be seen, heard and companioned exactly as it is. When we make that kind of deep bow to the soul of a suffering person, our respect reinforces the soul’s healing resources, the only resources that can help the sufferer make it through.

"Aye, there’s the rub. Many of us “helper” types are as much or more concerned with being seen as good helpers as we are with serving the soul-deep needs of the person who needs help. Witnessing and companioning take time and patience, which we often lack — especially when we’re in the presence of suffering so painful we can barely stand to be there, as if we were in danger of catching a contagious disease. We want to apply our 'fix,' then cut and run, figuring we’ve done the best we can to 'save' the other person...'

"It’s at such a bedside where we finally learn that we have no 'fix' or 'save' to offer those who suffer deeply. And yet, we have something better: our gift of self in the form of personal presence and attention, the kind that invites the other’s soul to show up. As Mary Oliver has written:

'This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.'

"I leave you with two pieces of advice — a flagrant self-contradiction for which my only defense is Emerson’s dictum that 'consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.' (1) Don’t give advice, unless someone insists. Instead, be fully present, listen deeply, and ask the kind of questions that give the other a chance to express more of his or her own truth, whatever it may be. (2) If you find yourself receiving unwanted advice from someone close to you, smile and ask politely if you can pay a little less this month."

A helpful word can be a salve, but it's not always what we need. Parker Palmer on the power of quiet, unobtrusive presence to heal in troubled times.

12/14/2020

How else will the COVID-19 vaccine help cancer patients?

In addition to saving lives by stopping the spread of the virus and easing the considerable burden of the pandemic on the national healthcare system, the upcoming mass vaccination effort will also protect cancer patients and others who are most vulnerable to infection (through herd immunity). Experts also hope that vaccines will encourage Americans to get their annual cancer screenings—one of the best tools doctors have to detect the disease early.

During these uncertain times, everyone’s wondering what they should do to stay healthy and how to protect themselves from COVID-19 (coronavirus). Many of us have the same questions on our minds: What are the symptoms of COVID-19? Who is at risk of contracting COVID-19?

11/13/2020

Interested in learning more about hospice and palliative care and having thoughtful conversation surrounding these topics? Want to understand what the difference is and when you what & when? Join us as we tackle these tough questions with those diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer through MBC.

10/10/2020

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