For me, that summer of my despair became the summer of my determination, because I believed I could make a difference in the lives of others.

Have you ever seen that greeting card with a little girl on the front, standing tall, legs splayed open hands on her hips that reads, “She thought she could so she did.”

As a Michigander, I claimed this quote from Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can or your can’t, you’re right.” I thought I could and I did, and you can too.

My battle was more of a roller coaster. Sometimes I was up, sometimes I was down, sometimes I was careening towards death, and other times I was chug, chug, chugging out of a quagmire of depression. That’s the thing about cancer, it challenges us to rise up even from the deepest pits of despair, and by rise up, I don’t just mean be strong.