{"id":1036,"date":"2010-04-27T13:12:43","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T13:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/redefining-cancer-survival-rates.html"},"modified":"2010-04-27T13:12:43","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T13:12:43","slug":"redefining-cancer-survival-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/redefining-cancer-survival-rates.html","title":{"rendered":"Redefining ‘Cancer Survival Rates’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rosie-the-riveter.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>“Stage 4 breast cancer” might be among the most terrifying four words a woman can ever hear.  The average life expectancy for a woman with that diagnosis is 30 months.  But Katherine Russell Rich has lived with it for 17 years.  <\/p>\n

This week, she wrote a moving essay for The New York Times (click here to read the whole thing<\/a>) about being a minority survivor–only 2 percent of stage 4 breast cancer patients become long-term survivors–and discovering the power and possibility of hope.  Her words are inspirational to anyone who is trying to redefine themselves, rewriting the narrative of a diagnosis, an emotional pattern, or even a relationship.  <\/p>\n

She writes about how she reached out on a website<\/a> to connect with other survivors and find joy  and peace within the unknown terrain of survival: <\/p>\n

\n

\n“On the website, I tell the women how deeply I believe there’s no such
\nthing as false hope: all hope is valid, even for people like us, even
\nwhen hope would no longer appear to be sensible.\t\t<\/p>\n

\nLife itself isn’t sensible, I say. No one can say with ultimate
\nauthority what will happen — with cancer, with a job that appears shaky,
\nwith all reversed fortunes — so you may as well seize all glimmers that
\nappear.\t\t<\/p>\n

\nI write to them (to myself) that of course this is tough: the waiting to
\nsee if the shadows are multiplying, the physical pain, the bouts with
\nterrible blackness.\t\t<\/p>\n

\n“But there can be joy in this life, too,” I say, “and that’s so
\nimportant to remember. This disease does not invalidate us. This past
\nyear, I’ve had the joy of falling in love with my sister’s kids, who
\nlive states away and whom I hadn’t had the chance to know. I’ve had a
\nsecond book come out, one I worked on for eight years, about going to
\nlive in India with Stage 4 cancer. I’ve had so many moments of joy this
\nyear, but when I’m in blackness, I forget about those.” Then I ask them
\nto write and tell me about theirs, and lights begin to flash.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(image via: http:\/\/beautifulwreck1.wordpress.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Like what you see? <\/b>Click here to subscribe<\/strong><\/font><\/a>
\nand get Fresh Living in your in-box every day.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Stage 4 breast cancer” might be among the most terrifying four words a woman can ever hear.  The average life expectancy for a woman with that diagnosis is 30 months.  But Katherine Russell Rich has lived with it for 17 years.  This week, she wrote a moving essay for The New York Times (click here…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-holly-lebowitz-rossi","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nRedefining 'Cancer Survival Rates' - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/redefining-cancer-survival-rates.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Redefining 'Cancer Survival Rates' - 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A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Divinity School, she has more than a decade of experience writing about religion and spirituality for Newsweek, The Washington Post, Spa Finder, Sojourners, Search, and many other publications. Her commentaries have also been heard on NPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Things Considered.\" When not at her desk, you can find her baking, in her garden, or rockin' out in water aerobics class. She lives in Arlington, Mass. Visit http:\/\/www.hollyrossi.com for more.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/hrossi"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}