The Friend Who Got Me Through My Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Many will say their spouse, children, kids, family member, or a best friend helped them during their lung cancer diagnosis. I agree because that is what helped me get through! My family and my children helped me get through because I wanted to see them grow up and continue to make precious memories with them.

But there was one person in my life that helped me get through the beginning of my lung cancer journey.

My cancer journey, guided by tough love

She was a bit rough with me, but I knew she meant well. She didn’t baby me, nor did she sugarcoat anything. She gave it to me raw, and I respected that.

Maybe that is what I needed to get through. She was a woman of God, and she devoted her life to God, his word, and the way she believed we should live. Not me so much, but I listened to her and learned from her as well.

A friend's cryptic message

She once told me she had a message for me, and she quoted a bible verse, Genesis 1:1-3. It states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “let there be light,” and there was light.

Now, I had no clue what this message meant. I looked at her like she was crazy, but I just smiled and said, “ok.” Because of her faith, she truly believed that God would heal me. She would give me messages that she would get for me.

As I said, she was rough and pretty bold, but because of it, I became stronger, and it lit a fire within me to fight and not give up.

Understanding her message

After a few months, it hit me what her message meant. I guess our creator was telling me that even though I’m going through this dark tunnel, I’m going to see the light at the end of my lung cancer journey.

I must say here I am 8 years later, and that light is still bright as ever. Yes, I’ve gone through lots of lung cancer scares every 3 to 4 months with CT scans and MRIs. But I’m still surviving, thriving, and living!

My spirituality guides my cancer journey

After a few years, I pulled away from organized religion. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, and I found that spirituality is for me. I don’t need a church to tell me how to pray, how to worship, or how to be.

Leading life with gratitude

I found just talking to our creator and being grateful for everything, even the little things, helps me through my daily life throughout my lung cancer journey. I’m still blessed with many things in my life and in life we will go through many storms. But it’s how we handle the storms.

How will you handle your storms?

Are you going to let them control your life? Or are you going to control them and learn from them? We all must go through these storms, but I believe it’s to strengthen us, make us stronger and to learn. They are there to help us grow, evolve and elevate us.

My dear friend is still a big part of my life and every now and then she’ll quote me a bible verse or tell me something that I need to hear and I love her for that. Because it’s a reminder how I started on this lung cancer journey, how far it brought me, and to continue that faith and positive energy to never give up.

It’s ok to take a little detour or a different route, find something that you are comfortable with that will help you on your journey and find that person that will help you after your lung cancer diagnosis.

I’m so blessed to have my friend Nora!