My Relay Speech- I wanted to share it with you.. we had a great day yesterday

dmj101

Hello Relayers!!!


I am so proud to be here today and have the opportunity to see you all again.


You may recall last year I was not at Relay. I Relayed in spirit from the 4th floor of St Barnabas Hospital recovering from surgeries related to my cancer.


Cancer is an ugly word. One I speak softly and it always has a small c so that I don’t give it too much power over me or anyone else.


This ugly word cancer has disturbed my world 3 times now – and this time it was presented with the word Metastatic or Metastasis (Yes – you need a new vocabulary list on hand when battling cancer)


This is a scary term – one I never wanted to hear...And to tell you the truth I am not sure the words were ever truly uttered though they echoed in my head for days till I became numb.


And while no one saw me fall - I was devastated... . How could this be happening…?


I was feeling great…. People were telling how great I looked… I had won the battle and I really thought it was over.


I had been thru so much… Radiation, Chemo, Successful Surgeries, and more Chemo.


How was I ever going to tell my friends and family – here we go again... that we would have to do it all again???


Cancer is a Bully… It wants to steal my dreams, my hope and my life….


It keeps coming at me… and while I am not one to back down from a fight... This Bully isn’t going to win.


So today I am back in treatment – to quiet those cells that escaped while no one was watching and previous treatments had not extinguished.


Today I am here:


To Fight that bully and tell him he will not win me or anyone else.


To Remember those the bully toppled


And to celebrate our Life – Both yours and mine.


We are survivors and always will be…


Thanks to the Love, Support and Faith of Family and Friends both near and far.


-And the diligent efforts of our Medical Community… Thank you All!!!!!


Together we are invincible and strong. Nothing is impossible for us… as I am Possible – we are Possible and together we will walk proudly our survivor lap…

barbebarb

Great
It takes strong survivors like you to keep us all moving forward.
Thank you for sharing!
Those are hard words to say....
To all of us with this bully let's celebrate life and keep fighting!

herdizziness

Speech
Very nice speech!!! Keep going strong.
Winter Marie

steveandnat

very nice
Ireally like the way you had cancer as the bully. Very nice speech. So happy we can stand up to this awful disease. Pray you are always fighting hard. Jeff

janie1

steveandnat said:

very nice
Ireally like the way you had cancer as the bully. Very nice speech. So happy we can stand up to this awful disease. Pray you are always fighting hard. Jeff

Great Speech!!
( would have crumbled), but you sent a motivating message!

Cathleen Mary

janie1 said:

Great Speech!!
( would have crumbled), but you sent a motivating message!

Thank you


Great job!!! Thank you for sharing your talk with us. Giving voice to the experience of cancer is a wonderful service and contribution.

Cathleen Mary

dmj101

plaque
my doc wants to put this on a plaque in her office..

It was such a great day and I hope I always feel as great as I did that day..

I had so much fun... during the dinner 3 young girls I didn't know came over to speak with me and give me hugs. I was like the town mayor for a few hours.. Most of my docs came and it was really great, My company was a corp sponsor and I was the team captain..
A childhood friend came by I was so excited to see him.. out of the blue.. I knew his wife had cancer.. so I never expected to see him.. those are the people that seem to avoid me the most... but he really made my day.. I couldn't tell him enough.... another friend I grew up with came - I have seen her serveral time in the last years and I was expecting her to come but she spent the whole day and it was just great to feel so much love that day.

I hope you all get an opportunity to own your cancer like I did that day and have it actually make you feel special in a good way... and realize you can still be a positve energy in this world.

Phil64

dmj101 said:

plaque
my doc wants to put this on a plaque in her office..

It was such a great day and I hope I always feel as great as I did that day..

I had so much fun... during the dinner 3 young girls I didn't know came over to speak with me and give me hugs. I was like the town mayor for a few hours.. Most of my docs came and it was really great, My company was a corp sponsor and I was the team captain..
A childhood friend came by I was so excited to see him.. out of the blue.. I knew his wife had cancer.. so I never expected to see him.. those are the people that seem to avoid me the most... but he really made my day.. I couldn't tell him enough.... another friend I grew up with came - I have seen her serveral time in the last years and I was expecting her to come but she spent the whole day and it was just great to feel so much love that day.

I hope you all get an opportunity to own your cancer like I did that day and have it actually make you feel special in a good way... and realize you can still be a positve energy in this world.

How do you do it?
I have to admit, your speech moves me and tears come to my eyes as I visualize you standing up in front of many people and delivering this speech. And being picked as the Team Captain and having so many people showing you Love and Support, the people being on the team. And having the doctor's office honor you by wanting to put your words into a plaque.

Putting myself in your shoes, I could feel the emotion start in my stomach, and move up my throat like a lump, and then the tears start to roll down my face. I'd love to be able to deliver some words like these, but I'm not sure I can do it without a crackling voice and tears falling down my face. I'm just don't know how to receive this kind of Love from people. It tends to overwhelm me.

My step son's baseball team played their tournament for me and decided to give me the trophy before they even started the final game of the tournament, and presented me with a picture and signed game ball... This kind of stuff is very overwelming for me.

And when five of the people I golfed with on our Monday night league decided to come over and hang out with me a few weeks back, and how that turned out to be a wonderful fire / hot dog roast... That was touching and difficult for me to take in.

And when my children hug me with tears coming down their face, fearing they may lose me earlier than they ever thought... Overwhelming for me!

I struggle with the emotions that go along with the fight against this ugly bully of a disease!

God Bless you and thank you for sharing your wonderful speech!