Last weekend you may have noticed that I posted a lot more photos on social media than I normally do. I attend a conference called YSC Summit 2019. This group (YSC) is all about connecting women (and men) diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40. There was about 600 participants and I had heard that those of us with MBC made up almost 10% of the whole. I met some other really wonderful young people living and thriving with MBC. Some folks were newly diagnosed and some are YEARS out. It’s inspirational to say the least to see most of these women thriving despite our cancery bond.
Group photoThis year the Summit was held in North Austin, TX. I didn’t get to really see Austin, so I need to go back. Just not on a Sunday because you can’t buy alcohol on Sunday?! 😬😉
While at the Summit my roommate was my friend Misty. She was diagnosed a couple of years before my first diagnosis in 2016. We were friends before cancer – our kids are what brought us together in Eugene. Then after Misty’s diagnosis and then mine, we found another way of connecting with one another. Bittersweet really that we have this other connection.
The conference itself was decent. The keynote speakers were great. They spoke about the collateral damage (CD) of cancer. I have had a blog post titled Collateral Damage in my drafts folder for weeks now. And just a couple of weeks ago I also came across a great blog post also all about CD. If you don’t know what I mean when I talk about CD I promise in the future I will finish that post and you can learn all about it. Cancer is an inconvenient bitch and it never stops taking, which is the basis of CD. I don’t like the focus that much on CD because it often feels like complaining, and it isn’t positive. Most of the time though I can be positive and compartmentalize the bad/ugly/messy parts of cancer.
I also got a chair massage at the Summit, ate some delicious tacos and Texas BBQ, attended a meditation session, and spoke with lots of vendors at the expo. Fun short trip to some warmer temperatures 🌞
Hannah in CancerLand 