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A V O C A T I O N
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CT Challenge
On July 28, 2007, I rode 25 miles in the CT Challenge—a charity event for the CT Challenge Survivorship Clinic at Yale Cancer Center—and raised $4,500 for the HERO'S clinic, a sister organization that provides specialized survivorship care to survivors of childhood cancer like myself. In the 2008 event, I rode again, this time buring 50 miles of pavement and raising well over $5,000. Because of my own struggles with cancer, it was a cause close to my heart. And because the event rode on the heels of my second surgery for breast cancer, it was truly a "challange." Repurposing parts of my Survivor Story for the Yale Cancer Center, I contributed this piece to the "Why I Ride" section of the CT Challenge website, which you can read live at ctchallenge.org, or below. - - - I first heard about the CT Challenge when I was recovering from a double mastectomy. As an 18-year survivor of childhood non-Hodgekins lymphoma, a one-year survivor of thyroid cancer, and a one-month survivor of bi-lateral breast cancer, I felt moved to sign up. But my participation seemed highly unlikely as the ride was just months away and I was in the midst of the most physically and mentally challenging time of my life. Being diagnosed with cancer is a shock. Being diagnosed with three different cancers—two in the same year and all before your 30th birthday—is downright unimaginable. That sense of being a survivor was something I'd connected with most of my life. But now, I felt completely alone. I didn't know any childhood or multiple cancer survivors, and I didn't feel I could relate to people experiencing cancer for the first time. I wasn't asking, "why me?" I was worrying, "what next?" My first remission came at a time when the long-term effects of cancer treatments weren't widely known and survivorship clinics didn't exist. After I was considered cured, I left the care of my pediatric oncologist with little knowledge and nowhere to go. My thyroid cancer was discovered purely by chance. And thankfully, because of that diagnosis I was referred to the HERO'S Clinic at Yale Cancer Center, an affiliate of the CT Challenge Survivorship Clinic that provides specialized follow-up care to survivors of childhood cancer. The HERO'S Clinic was a light in the dark. Once they helped me understand my risks—and, more importantly, what I could do to mitigate them—I felt empowered. Without their help, my breast cancer may have gone undetected. Nina Kadan-Lottick, Medical Director of the clinic, made herself available to me throughout my breast cancer experience. It was such a relief to finally have someone to turn to with my questions. When I finally registered for the CT Challenge, I did so out of gratitude to the HERO'S Clinic and my physicians at Yale, out of admiration for all the survivors who came before me, out of hope for all the survivors who would follow me, and out of the desire to rediscover the physical and mental strength that being a survivor had always meant to me. Just two months after my reconstruction surgery, I rode 25 miles in the 2007 CT Challenge and raised close to $4,500 for the HEROS clinic. While training for the ride was a catalyst for my physical recovery, giving back to the cancer community was key to my emotional recovery. For the first time in a long while, I didn't feel so alone. Sharing that sense of accomplishment with other survivors and supporters gave me the inspiration I needed to move forward again. As a new year rolls around, I find myself living life-after-cancer with a renewed sense of self, connectedness, and hope that the CT Challenge helped make possible. And with a newfound love of bicycling to boot, I'm challenging myself to complete the 50-mile ride—and my supporters to pass the $5,000 mark—in 2008.
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