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Dear Benefactor, It has been a really long time. On March 8, 2018, I promised you that I would go hiking again. Well, I hit a bit of a snag. Boy-howdy, who am I kidding? It’s been rough. On April 11, 2018, I ended up in the ER. I had been having sporadic, excruciating pain […]

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis, the day some strange doctor—not my regular one—told me about ten times in a thick accent, “You have advanced cancer.” The picture on the left was taken three hours later, right before my family’s scheduled road trip to Angel’s Camp, California. I thought for sure I […]

Dear Fran, Remember in my last letter to you, I told you about my upcoming nipple surgery? Well, I ended up getting that nipple on October 1—and four other procedures done—and I must say, it was quite the ordeal. First off, I remember counting back from 100 and the next thing I knew, I thought […]

On Monday, my to-do list only had one item on it: order a nipple. Today, my main objective was to mail a copy of my new book to Jonathan Cain, the songwriter for the band Journey. The book is at the post office, ready to leave rainy Washington for sunny California. I’m still hoping to […]

Hi Fran, Yes, yes, it’s been a long time. I’ve been super busy with the wackiest things. For example, this was today’s to-do list: 1. Order nipple   Yup. I finally made the plunge (considering the rest of my breast reconstruction was on June 27, 2011 for Pete’s sake) and talked to the plastic surgeon […]

Dear Benefactor, I’ve been a bad girl. I have not hiked since November when I conquered the Waihe Ridge Trail in Maui. I told you all about it in my last letter to you. You see, I’ve been super sad. My uncle has Stage IV lung cancer. It happened super fast. In fact, I just […]

Dear Benefactor, Guess what? I finally went for another hike. Maui, this time. It took Ken and me about two hours to get to the top in the burning hot sun. In case you want the details, the Waihee Ridge Trail is 2.1 miles up with a 1563-foot elevation gain. In other words, it was freaking hard. For me, anyway. […]

Dear Benefactor, The last time I wrote you, I mentioned that Ken and I were going camping with some friends on the other side of the mountains (with our new RV) and I would try to go hiking, using those boots you bought me. Remember how I also mentioned my fear of rattlesnakes? Someone in […]

Benefactor! Benefactor! Benefactor! So much stuff has been happening around here, I hardly know where to start. I definitely have not been having any extra time to wallow around feeding into my survivor’s guilt. First of all, I told you (in my last letter to you) that I would go hiking again soon, and I […]