Personal Journey
Carrie Dailor:
Gratitude Given, Gratitude Received “But grace can be the experience of a second wind, when even though what you want is clarity and resolution, what you get is stamina and poignancy and the strength to hang on.” ~Anne Lamott
With the arrival of 2016, Carrie Dailor anticipated a significant year. She looked forward to the tenth anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis in October. “It meant that I was possibly so far out from everything that in a way I would be safe from cancer forever,” she shares. An MRI in January would be just another part of her ongoing surveillance.
In 2006, Carrie was 35 years old when she found a lump in her breast. She knew she had to act and scheduled a visit with her gynecologist, …show more content…
Determined to deal with her cancer in the best way possible, she followed this recommendation and began treatment.
Chemotherapy was difficult, but it had the desired effect. “It was good to see that the tumor was shrinking, shrinking, shrinking,” Carrie recalls, “and it was almost down to nothing toward the end [of chemo].” She proceeded with a lumpectomy, followed by six weeks of radiation therapy. Because her cancer was estrogen receptor positive, meaning its growth was fueled by this hormone, Carrie was prescribed a five-year regimen of the estrogen-antagonist medication, tamoxifen.
But she wasn’t content to focus only on her own healing. Carrie had found the Coalition during a google search shortly after receiving her biopsy results. “I sent an email explaining my initial diagnosis and requested information on any resources that the Coalition might have available,” Carrie remembers. She quickly connected with Holly Anderson, who “…emailed back, explaining how it might be helpful to have someone sort of ‘walk me through’ what I might expect over the next few weeks...She reassured me that I wasn 't alone, and we set up a time to meet.” The rest is …show more content…
As a volunteer for our organization in a number of different capacities, she is always willing to lend a listening ear to young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Carrie’s approaching ten-year anniversary was truly a cause for celebration.
But first, there was that January MRI to get through. A mammogram in July of 2015 had not revealed any areas of concern. This time, the results were less clear, and the radiologist, erring on the side of caution, recommended a biopsy, which was performed quickly. To Carrie’s dismay, a new cancer was found; one with different biomarkers than the first one. It wasn’t a recurrence of the original tumor, it was a completely new cancer.
“I felt a bit defeated with the news,” Carrie admits. The first diagnosis had been a cause for soul-searching, while the second deepened that introspection. “For the past years, I have been searching high and low as to what I could have done differently…Is it my deodorant? Is it what I’m eating?” Carrie wondered. “But after having a new cancer develop, it made me stop and realize there was nothing I could have done differently to prevent this. So, in a strange way I feel like I can stop searching and just be, and for that I feel more
Carrie Dailor:
Gratitude Given, Gratitude Received “But grace can be the experience of a second wind, when even though what you want is clarity and resolution, what you get is stamina and poignancy and the strength to hang on.” ~Anne Lamott
With the arrival of 2016, Carrie Dailor anticipated a significant year. She looked forward to the tenth anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis in October. “It meant that I was possibly so far out from everything that in a way I would be safe from cancer forever,” she shares. An MRI in January would be just another part of her ongoing surveillance.
In 2006, Carrie was 35 years old when she found a lump in her breast. She knew she had to act and scheduled a visit with her gynecologist, …show more content…
Determined to deal with her cancer in the best way possible, she followed this recommendation and began treatment.
Chemotherapy was difficult, but it had the desired effect. “It was good to see that the tumor was shrinking, shrinking, shrinking,” Carrie recalls, “and it was almost down to nothing toward the end [of chemo].” She proceeded with a lumpectomy, followed by six weeks of radiation therapy. Because her cancer was estrogen receptor positive, meaning its growth was fueled by this hormone, Carrie was prescribed a five-year regimen of the estrogen-antagonist medication, tamoxifen.
But she wasn’t content to focus only on her own healing. Carrie had found the Coalition during a google search shortly after receiving her biopsy results. “I sent an email explaining my initial diagnosis and requested information on any resources that the Coalition might have available,” Carrie remembers. She quickly connected with Holly Anderson, who “…emailed back, explaining how it might be helpful to have someone sort of ‘walk me through’ what I might expect over the next few weeks...She reassured me that I wasn 't alone, and we set up a time to meet.” The rest is …show more content…
As a volunteer for our organization in a number of different capacities, she is always willing to lend a listening ear to young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Carrie’s approaching ten-year anniversary was truly a cause for celebration.
But first, there was that January MRI to get through. A mammogram in July of 2015 had not revealed any areas of concern. This time, the results were less clear, and the radiologist, erring on the side of caution, recommended a biopsy, which was performed quickly. To Carrie’s dismay, a new cancer was found; one with different biomarkers than the first one. It wasn’t a recurrence of the original tumor, it was a completely new cancer.
“I felt a bit defeated with the news,” Carrie admits. The first diagnosis had been a cause for soul-searching, while the second deepened that introspection. “For the past years, I have been searching high and low as to what I could have done differently…Is it my deodorant? Is it what I’m eating?” Carrie wondered. “But after having a new cancer develop, it made me stop and realize there was nothing I could have done differently to prevent this. So, in a strange way I feel like I can stop searching and just be, and for that I feel more