We have lost many of the people who have shared their stories with us but their inspiring words stay in our hearts. Their words reach out and stand to teach us all. Their stories live on.
--Pamela Thompson, LMP Director

When you come to edge of all that you know,
You must believe in one of two things,
There will be earth upon which to stand
Or you will be given wings.
--Author Unknown


Life, the whole exciting scary and surprising ride of it really is good!
--Cheron Hayes

The process that leads to these collected stories is born from the creation of a community of storytellers. The results are vibrant and alive. As with all stories, we can fill in the voices and faces ourselves. They are our own.
--Joanna Bull, Founder of Gilda's Club

With every familiar human feeling that returns, the more I know I'm back, and I'm going to fight like a mad dog to stay.
--Deborah Milton-Spaulding

My first visit with Patty ... she was only 16 years old and she had a high amputation on her leg just below her hip and I remember her as a depressed and quiet adolescent who had been told, by other physicians, that her cancer was terminal ... I tried to bond with her by explaining there was still a chance for prolonged life and with God's grace possibly a cure... I believe it was at one of those early visits, while trying to convince her to wear her prosthetic leg (something she hated to do!), that I promised to dance with her at her wedding ... 17 years later, I received a phone call and was invited to Patty's upcoming marriage that summer ... that night (after the wedding) I went to the reception and was able to fulfill that hopeful promise, and dance with her at her wedding. It was a dance I will never forget.
-- Stuart Adair, retired pediatric oncologist

My tired body with its new geography, a disrupted landscape that it is difficult to get used to. To turn catastrophe into healing, to grow new vegetation on the slope of a lava flow, to rebuild a structure from the rubble of an earthquake, this my task.
--Willow Rose

"Survivor" is a hard term for me to come to grips with at this point in my life, as I've been a holocaust survivor since I was four. Cancer has helped me realize that I have a choice as to how I label myself. I now think of myself as a passenger, on another difficult life voyage, that is taking me to places to which I have never before traveled.
--Lisa Avedon

As I traveled to find peace of mind
I found along life's road
Love that would stay until we reach the end of our days
Sharing our dreams, making our journey
To where destiny leads
And we are not alone as we walk together
With the gentle hands of angels
On our shoulders.
--Dedra Umoja Will

As for now I take deep breaths. Say a prayer. Cry. Feel impatient. Walk in the pinions. See a good movie. Feel sadness. Meditate. Pay the bills. Act very silly. Watch the birds feeding. Share deeply with loved ones. Share mundanely with loved ones. I think it is called living.
--Mary Tufts