Last weekend, April 29 - May 1, 2016, I was lucky enough to attend the Lungevity Hope Summit held in Washington, DC. Expense paid by LUNGevity. I cannot even begin to express how inspirational, educational, loving and supportive those 3 days were.
Each day we were lucky enough to have physicians and survivors from all over the world come in and speak to us. Some of the topics were:
- Nutrition
- Palliative Care
- Research and Development
- Survivorship
- Immunotherapy
- And many more
As a cancer patient, we depend upon our family for support, love and encouragement. But, to be honest, sitting in a room with 200 other Lung Cancer Patients has given me more than I could ever give back to them. It is truly amazing to sit at a table with 10 other people who TRULY know what is going on with you physically and emotionally. As a example, as a lung cancer survivor we cough. There are different types of coughs. Sometimes we need a drink of water. Sometimes we need a tissue. Sometimes we need someone to tap our back. The most amazing thing to me was sitting there and the person to my right or left, everytime, knew exactly what I needed. It was so uplifting to sit next to a Stage 4 survivor who was diagnosed 14 years ago.
| 10 or MORE years survival |
| Look at how many new drugs were FDA approved in 2015 |
My special friends I made - too many to get photos with all of them |
I truly am a believer that we cannot go through this journey without other survivors to help each other. Just talking to others can lift for spirits to a level you never knew existed since being diagnosed. As a result, I am dedicating myself to helping others.
To all my brothers and sisters from LUNGevity Hope Summit 2016 - I love you all. To my fellow cancer survivors, WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER!!
