Cancer Surprisingly Expanded My Work

I love being busy and involved with people, and I feel it is important to help others. I was in my perfect universe when I retired from a government job and was counseling part-time and teaching part-time at a community college.

Then came that awful cancer; we all know how that changes our lives in the most unexpected ways. I was forced to choose between the two careers and cut back. There are not enough professionals in the deaf community to help, and I decided to teach and encourage the younger generation to become professionals who work with the deaf rather than be a counselor who worked with one person at a time.

After several years of teaching, my immune system worsened, and my oncologist told me to stop teaching because of the risk of being exposed and becoming very ill. I sobbed because I felt that I no longer had a way to assist other people. This was before remote learning and COVID-19, which isolated all of us.

From the time I was a little girl, I had wanted to be a writer. My wonderful oncologist told me about CURE®. I began to send articles and have been doing this ever since. I am in my element, like in my teaching days, as I do research, learn a lot myself and have fun!

I had no idea how far-reaching this incredible magazine was. I have received emails from people all over the world ranging from the Middle East to Canada to Australia. I read the articles from CURE® and am struck by how many of us want to help others with cancer.

I began to think about how much I missed teaching and realized I am teaching every time I write an article — is just in a different form of teaching. Some of us may feel parts of our former lives have been taken from us. Cancer and the side effects can make it harder, but not impossible, to assist others.

The web editor from CURE® has arranged Zoom meetings to meet each other across the country. I listened as several writers said they could no longer go outside and were isolated but were still writing away!

Through our writings and Zoom meetings, we meet people from all over the world and help them. That is a fantastic legacy to have!

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