Last night I was so excited to see that the Dear Melanoma facebook page reached 2000 likes. I wanted to take the opportunity to thank
everyone that has followed my journey.
Earlier this year I was going back and forth about whether I
wanted to document my life with melanoma. I knew that my friends and family
would read it, but never did I expect that I would be opening my life to be
scrutinised in the best possible way by the public. Over 65 000 people have
read my blog – wow! People know my face and my story and are not afraid to stop
me when I am out and about. I knew that if I was to do this, I wanted to write
a blog that was 100% honest. This meant that there would be hours spent in
front of my laptop with tears running down my face documenting some of my
saddest moments and some of my biggest fears I have about dying.
Over the last six months since launching the blog, and in
turn, the Facebook page, you have been with me on this journey. You know my
deepest secrets and fears. You know what pushes my buttons. You know my
favourite things that will never fail to bring a smile to my face. We have
fundraised together. And most importantly, you have all been spectators to mine and Serge’s love story.
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| Some of my 'cheerleaders' helping launch Dear Melanoma |
I am sure, together, many tears have fallen when reading my
blog, but I hope you have also smiled and laughed.
I am so glad that I decided to start this blog. Every time I
post a blog, sometimes fearing your reaction, the number of people that read each
post, your comments, and your support overwhelms me. It makes everything
worthwhile.
There are many of you that I feel I know – I like to call
you my ‘regulars’. You never fail to comment and give me your thoughts and
support. I thank you for that.
For those that have taken the time to share their melanoma
story with me, I thank you. I love knowing that I am not alone in this journey
and that so many of my fears are shared.
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| My little family |
I have made new friends since launching this blog. Friends
that I feel like I have known for years. These people know who they are and I
am so glad that I met you and that we have left the keyboard and built a ‘real
life’ friendship.
To the people that continue to be my cheerleaders – my husband,
my parents, my sisters, my family and my dearest of friends – this has been a
way in which they can understand how I am feeling without us having to have the
conversation that is sometimes to difficult. Thank you for letting me have this
voice and being there with me 100% of the way.
This blog has given me so much strength, but most
importantly it has given me purpose. I know many of you will continue on this
journey with me until melanoma does take my life. You will continue to give me
the courage to be honest, as well as live this life to the fullest.
Thank you.
Wow Emma, I am thanking YOU. What a wonderful, honest, heartfelt blog. I came across it as I was stuffing two mini pavlovas into my mouth - fate! You put into words what others experiencing similair things are feeling and its so good to not feel alone. Reading all about you tonight, which is a big milestone in my own family's melanoma story, has been really special. Good luck to you, keep writing your fantastic blog and keep taking photos of your gorgeous ranga family. xx
ReplyDeleteI just began reading your blog recently. I am so impressed by you. I wish you well.
ReplyDeleteNo, Emma. Thank YOU! I feel honoured and privileged to call you my friend. All too often the most wonderful experiences come from truly horrible ones. You are quite simply, for me, the wonderful experience. Not a day goes by when I don't pull myself up and think of what you've been through (and continue to, despite "looking so well". When I feel like having a whinge, I now say to myself instead "You think you're doing it tough, Al?"... You are awesome Emma....never forget that xx
ReplyDeleteHI Emma, in 2006 I was diagnosed with a level 4 melanoma on my shoulder. The mole was shaped like a heart, so I always joked that I had been kissed by an angel. Unfortunately not so. I used a product from Waiora Products (with which I now have no affiliation, so I am not pushing anything) to remove all the heavy metals from my body to allow it to heal itself. I then cleaned up my diet, ate mostly vegetarian, did not eat anything with a preservative in it, meditated and thought really positive thoughts about everything and everyone (seriously that helped....but you know that now). The only medical intervention was that I had a CAT scan at 1 month to see if it had spread - it had not. I did not have the secondary surgery to remove any further flesh/tumour from my body, only the initial biopsy to test what it was.
ReplyDeleteI understand that I may have been a one in a million case, but what the heck, everything is worth a chance. I wish you good luck in your journey and strongly urge you to investigate Natural Cellular Defence.