All posts by Heidi

World Cancer Day

Conventional Methods

Those who are devoted to the perfection of wisdom should expect therefrom many advantages here and now…. Those devotees will not die an untimely death, nor from poison, or sword, or fire, or water, or staff, or violence.

The Perfection of Wisdom, trans. Edward Conze

 

One advantage of the perfection of wisdom in an individual is an alertness to bodily changes that are sending a signal: something is amiss. That could easily include cancer. And cancer needs to be dealt with immediately.

A friend just sent me an email because three people in her life are now dealing with cancer—including a young man at the prime of life with the disease spread to distant organs. It’s terrifying and overwhelming.

How I wish we could stop—even prevent—this terrible disease.

WCD2016_WeCan_Poster_510x510Cancer is a scourge. Currently, 8.2 million people pass from cancer worldwide every year, according to http://www.worldcancerday.org/.

My friend’s note arrived on the eve of World Cancer Day, an annual global event created on Feb. 4, 2000, to “unite the world’s population in the fight against cancer… to get as many people as possible around the globe to talk about cancer on 4 February.”

The event aims to raise awareness and educate people about cancer.

Please. Inspire yourself to do all you can to prevent cancer. Perfect your wisdom, in part, by keeping alert for symptoms. And if it strikes, do all you can to regain your health. You are worth it, and it will save others from the devastation of losing you.

 

Thriver Soup Ingredient

The American Cancer Society lists signs and symptoms of cancer at http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/signs-and-symptoms-of-cancer

 

Sources:

Conze, Edward, trans. The Perfection of Wisdom and Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary. Bolinas, California: Four Seasons Foundation, 1975, pages 109-110.

Image: http://www.worldcancerday.org/

Thriver Soup Thursday—Ebook Available

Conventional Methods

Thriver Soup now is available as an ebook.

As a Nook Book:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thriver-soup-heidi-bright-mdiv/1123295453?ean=9781611393743

As a Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Thriver-Soup-Living-Consciously-Journey-ebook/dp/B01AVJZQIU/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1453409988&sr=1-3&keywords=sunstone+press

Enjoy!

Thriver Soup: A Feast for Living Consciously During the Cancer Journey
Thriver Soup: A Feast for Living Consciously During the Cancer Journey

“Thriver Soup” has moved

Conventional Methods

Thriver Soup now has its own website, thriversoup.com. Commenting on blog posts should be easy now because I am using Wordpress through Inmotion Hosting.

Because there is no easy way to move two years’ worth of weekly blog posts with my new domain host, previous posts will temporarily remain on heidibright.com, yet that website also is being moved to my new host and the blogs probably will not transfer. If there is anything you want to look up, now is the time.

A new website called parentofanaddict.com is in the works so blog posts about addiction will be appearing there. Dennis Spencer, a wonderful Cincinnati artist who works with addicts, is starting the process of creating the logo and cover art. Eventually the site will include weekly blog posts on Tuesdays. Currently it contains some news stories. I also plan to add resources for parents.

heidibright.com will eventually be moved to the new host, so it also will feature a new look. The same holds true for preservefamilymemories.com.

Please let me know what you think of this new website by leaving a comment below. Thank you!

Kindly Christmas

It Takes a Village, Night of Mourning, , , ,

Those who act kindly in this world will have kindness.

Qur’an 39.10

I was in need of much kindness.

I was a single mother whose firstborn had recently passed away and whose only other child was spending Christmas with his father.

Dread filled my heart when I thought about the upcoming holiday. Christmas 2014 had seemed horrible enough. My 19-year-old had purchased a one-way ticket to hell years earlier–turning to substance abuse, most likely in part because of my end-stage cancer diagnosis in 2009–and he was dragging us along. We spent three long hours in a drug rehab facility. A thick blanket of pain hung heavily around each person as we ate, played bingo, and strained to make small talk. Anger, hurt, sorrow, fear, and powerlessness pervaded my being.

My son ended up doing what most heroin addicts do—he overdosed in June. Then a friend of his overdosed before Thanksgiving, bringing another cascade of grief.

What to do for Christmas this year? I wanted to avoid sobbing into a cup of tea all day. Lovely friends invited me to join them, and I am grateful, but it still would have been a horrible holiday. I knew I needed to get completely away from the memories for awhile.

Heidi by tree 1 webThen I had a conversation with one of my sisters-in-law, followed by an invitation to Seattle for the holidays.

It was perfect. I left a week before Christmas and stayed well into the new year to avoid emotional triggers. They piled my lap with more gifts than I have received in decades. My sister-in-law cooked amazing meals and showed me the treasures she had been collecting for a museum she plans to open in Astoria, Oregon, in June. I also disappeared into my deceased parents’ past, scanning hundreds of old family slides and transcribing German letters.

My brother and his family acted with great kindness, and I am so grateful. I actually had a really nice Christmas.

 

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

If you know someone who has suffered a great loss, your kindness is deeply appreciated.

Special Delivery

Congruent Care, Night of Mourning, , , , , , , , ,

Give thanks in all circumstances…

1 Thessalonians 5:18, Christian Bible, New International Version

 

A large package appeared on my front porch a week before Christmas. I hadn’t ordered anything, and didn’t expect any gifts from anyone.

lville stoneware web.jpgThe label included an unknown name above my address. Hmmm.

I called the delivery company, the former homeowners, the return address phone number. After two hours on and off the phone, the originating company representative told me the package was mine.

Excited, I cut through the tape and pulled out a large red stoneware container holding potpourri. It featured an embossed fleur-de-lis.

My son Tristan’s favorite color was red. Fleur-de-lis is French for the lily flower, which is used to symbolize resurrection. The Boy Scouts, an organization to which Tristan belonged for years, uses the symbol.

Was it somehow, through a series of small errors, sent to me by Tristan’s energy? No one can say for sure. My friend Kay, who lost her son, taught me to see these unusual events as signs from our loved ones. She would say, “Thank you, thank you, send me more.” Because she is open to the possibility and watching for it, she notices what others might readily dismiss, and she feels a precious sense of connection with and gratitude toward her son.

So I am going to accept this gift as if my son sent it to me and give thanks for this unusual and wonderful circumstance.

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

If you have lost a loved one to cancer, watch for interesting and unusual signs that this person is communicating with you. If something happens, give your loved one thanks and ask for more.

Thriver Soup Article: Special Delivery, by Heidi Bright

Mary Celebrates Sarcoma

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​Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.

Psalm 103: 1, Christian Bible, New International Version

 

Mary Connolly shares from her heart her journey through a devastating cancer diagnosis to celebrating sarcoma with a thankful heart.

At age 21, while still a college student, synovial sarcoma was found in her leg. Meanwhile, her sister was undergoing gamma knife surgery for a brain tumor.

Mary had surgery that left her unable to lift her right foot upward. She had to get her car modified with a left foot pedal. Away went all her beautiful, beloved shoes. That was just one of numerous challenges she faced, including in her relationships with family, friends, and potential boyfriends.

Mary turned these challenges into opportunities. Now when people ask about her foot brace, she uses that as an opening to raise awareness about sarcoma.

Mary’s faith played a huge role in her healing journey. Her book, Celebrate Sarcoma, is filled with her prayers and Bible verses reflecting her struggles with her understanding of God.

Eventually she came through to the other side of depression. Mary wrote, “I decided that I wanted to do something meaningful with my life. Something that would not just benefit my family and close friends, but an even wider circle of people. I decided that I could be nothing but thankful for how the cancer brought about positive change in my life…. God has blessed me with a maturity and insight that many don’t have even after experiencing successful careers. For this I am grateful.”

Reflecting back on her experience, she writes, “As much as I have despised cancer for the havoc it has wreaked on me, I have reached a place where I can’t imagine my life without this experience and the journey on which it has set me. I am grateful for the lessons I have learned, the relationships I have built, the experiences I have had—some that have brought tears of sadness or joy, others that have brought laughter or mourning.”

Through it all, Mary has reached a place where she can celebrate sarcoma. She looks forward to working with young adult cancer survivors.

 

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

The sale of Mary’s book will benefit orthopedic cancer research at The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio. The book is available athttp://www.amazon.com/Celebrate-Sarcoma-Mary-Connolly-ebook/dp/B00Q9X5EHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449889641&sr=8-1&keywords=celebrate+sarcoma .

Thriver Soup Article: Mary Celebrates Sarcoma, by Heidi Bright

Patricia’s Journey with the Purple Dragon

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Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back.

John O’Donohue

The soul of Patricia Moreira-Cali has been stirred into full life by a purple dragon known as leiomyosarcoma. It is a rare and aggressive form of cancer, and for women it usually starts in the uterus.

On April 23, 2013, Patricia’s uterine “fibroids” were found to be cancerous, and she began a perilous journey that continues today. She bravely talks about her first year after the diagnosis in her book, My Journey with the Purple Dragon. She goes into vulnerable detail about her emotional experiences and her search for a cure.

“Friends and family are not with you at all times of the day and night,” she wrote. “You are alone when the tears seem endless, when the sorrow is so painful that it’s hard to breathe, when the grief cuts through your core, when you long for the freedom to feel healthy, and when you are introduced to death, and somehow you befriend it.”

She experiments with a variety of complementary treatments while doing conventional chemotherapy. “I have no doubt that the treatment of cancer, and many other chronic diseases, requires a holistic approach,” she wrote. Among her choices were to visit John of God in Brazil, and she describes her experiences there.

Gradually, the reader witnesses Patricia’s inner transformation. “A new me is emerging, growing and flourishing, somehow,” she writes.

When she reaches the end of her first year of treatment, she finds an enviable place of serenity. “I have detached from much illusion, and I feel mostly at peace within.”

The book is self-published and could benefit from professional editing, yet overall it is a moving story of courage and a roadmap for others on the journey with cancer.

 

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

Profits from Patricia’s book sales go to leiomyosarcoma research and to support a poor child with cancer through her non-profit Helping Children Heal (HCH). Her book can be ordered at http://www.purpledragonjourney.com/order-now/

 

Sources:

Patricia Moreira-Cali, My Journey with the Purple Dragon: Living with a Rare and Aggressive Cancer. Bloomington, IN: Balboa Press, 2014:78,100, 105.

Thriver Soup Article: Patricia’s Journey with the Purple Dragon by Heidi Bright