Things That Give Me Hope

As you have probably realized, I've been doing a  lot of writing lately. Not just on this blog, but for other folks, too.

I've really enjoyed that other writing -- I'm a Community Advocate for Blood-Cancer.com, for example, and done some other small projects, like the guest blog post for my friend Al.

I have such great loyal readers here on the blog, and writing for those other sites lets me engage with some new readers. I get so much satisfaction from being an advocate. I've been able to take something awful -- a cancer diagnosis -- and turn it into something good. And I get to do that while doing something I love -- writing.

Now I've got something new to share -- I'm writing a column for Lymphoma News Today. The idea for the column came a few months ago, when I was reflecting on my 10 years as a lymphoma patient. So much has changed in 10 years -- in my own life, and in the world of Follicular Lymphoma. I wanted to find a way to write about all of those things.

But I also wanted to make sure I kept up the same theme that I've had in 10 years of blogging -- Hope. That's why I do all that research about new treatments. It brings me Hope. I know that not all of those new treatments will work out, and I try to be realistic about it. But Hope isn't about realism. It's about possibilities, and hanging on to them.

So the Lymphoma News Today column is called Things That Give Me Hope. I'm going to write at least once a month, and look back at the people and things that have done just that -- given me Hope. Given me something to look forward to. Given me a spark of possibility that things are going to be OK.

The first column went up on Friday, and within a few minutes, someone posted a comment -- a woman whose husband had just been diagnosed. I got to respond.

That makes it all worth it.

More to come -- here and elsewhere. Thanks for reading.