Breast Cancer Poem by Michelle Bradshaw

I’m dealing with this sickness inside of me.
Something that I don’t deserve and something
I don’t want to face. But it’s here and it’s happening
to me and I must deal with the reality of this place.

I’m learning to do what I need to go forward
so that I may stay around for myself and my family.
My diagnosis was not the end of my life but the beginning
of a journey that I must go on. One that has pushed
me and will stretch me to become something that I never knew I could be.
To pull out of me strength that I never knew was inside of me.

I don’t claim Breast Cancer. It’s a condition that I have, and not
what I am. I will never call it my Breast Cancer. It’s an illness
but not a permanent part of my life, I don’t accept it to be that.
I face each day with the full understanding that Cancer is not here to stay.
I expect to move on and live a healthy life long after It has finally gone.