Like many people, I was saddened to learn that Olivia Newton-John is again battling cancer. \u00a0To me, she is not just a wonderful entertainer – she is the first celebrity that I remember openly discussing her battle with breast cancer in 1992. \u00a0She advocated for more awareness and better treatments, and showed us that you can have a fulfilling life after breast cancer treatment \u00a0– even when you are diagnosed in your mid-40’s.<\/p>\n
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Which is why I think this has hit a lot of my pink sisters especially hard. \u00a0I have heard a lot of despair in my support group in the last few days. \u00a0After all, Olivia is the one who did it. \u00a0She stared breast cancer in the face and said “Oh, hell no!” \u00a0It is a reminder to us that any of us can have a recurrence. \u00a0 Any of us can have a metastasis (when the cancer spreads to other parts of the body). \u00a0This is the fear that all cancer survivors, no matter what the type, live with every day. \u00a0We all fear the moment that we will once again hear those words, “You have cancer.”<\/p>\n
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But this is not my take away from Olivia’s fight. \u00a0When I read about her new challenges Tuesday, the words that jumped off the screen at me were “25 years”.<\/p>\n
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Wow. \u00a0Twenty-five years of being NED (no evidence of disease).<\/p>\n
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(On a side rant, I hate the term “remission”. \u00a0It implies to me that the cancer is sitting there dormant, waiting to strike again. \u00a0NED tells me we eliminated, no, exterminated<\/strong> all the cancer. \u00a0Sure, I may produce more at some point, but for now, I have won).<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But I digress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is incredible to me that Olivia has been NED for 25 years. \u00a0My doctors keep scaring me with talk of five year recurrence rates. \u00a0There are days that I can’t imagine more than that. \u00a0Twenty-five years feels like a lifetime that I may barely dream about today. \u00a0And she did it! \u00a0After being treated with 1992 technology, \u00a0Olivia has not just survived, she has thrived. \u00a0 And she shows no sign of stopping now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From her press release:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n “In addition to natural wellness therapies, Olivia will complete a short course of photon radiation therapy and is confident she will be back later in the year, better than ever, to celebrate her shows.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I refuse to ever lose hope. \u00a0I refuse to think of myself in terms of statistics. \u00a0Cancer may win in the end, but it’s going to drag me out kicking, screaming, and leaving nail marks in the door jam. \u00a0 I have hope for me, for all my pink sisters, and for Olivia. \u00a0I hope her treatment is successful. \u00a0I hope she tours again and embraces life. \u00a0No matter what the future holds, I know one thing. \u00a0She has already shown us there is life after cancer. \u00a0And I am devoted to finding that for myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Like many people, I was saddened to learn that Olivia Newton-John is again battling cancer. \u00a0To me, she is not just a wonderful entertainer – she is the first celebrity that I remember openly discussing her battle with breast cancer in 1992. \u00a0She advocated for more awareness and better treatments,\u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,4],"tags":[16,20,21,22,23,24,18,25,19],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/hope-clipart-k5108486.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1066,"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions\/1066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.driventosurvive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}