What It’s Like

From one of our participants. . . .

“Yes, a cancer diagnosis changes everything.  It’s a deep shock.  It slams you into a different world where each  & every day can be a “thank you God,” or “thank you Universe,” kind of day.  How does one embrace that?  Well, one way is saying yes to stuff…. all kinds of stuff that you would have had a “no” for last week. When you’re living with cancer you don’t know if you’ll have another chance at yes, so you find yourself gulping and jumping in.   For instance, I got on a horse even though the idea of hanging around a horse was, for me, seriously intimidating at best.

“I did the gulp when offered an introduction to a horse named Mystic.  This was through an equine therapy program for breast cancer survivors called Riding Beyond.  I am here to say that a horse can jump start your healing in a powerful way.  And she can be so comforting and uplifting (not to mention exciting) that you never want to leave her.  I thought of her constantly during the program and looked ahead all week to the next meeting.  A horse will walk with you in sadness and grief, in joy and happiness, both when you are sleeping and waking.  That’s pretty big, don’t you think?  Well, I do too.

“I hope you can find a lot of places to say yes.  It might get you going on a whole new life.  I’m working on that myself.  What better use for this crazy, challenging diagnosis?”