Lindsay Lenny is returning to Retreat Yourself West 2012 as a peer supporter. Read on to learn her story and see how cancer is a part of her life.
Almost seven years ago, in 2005, I was diagnosis with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I was 29, a first-year nursing student, and working part-time. Life came to a complete halt and became an hour to hour battle. From the time of my diagnosis and through treatment, it has been a battle of infections and surviving treatment. I had a stem cell transplant, two rounds of intense chemotherapy, and two rounds of full body radiation.
Needless to say, I have a whole new outlook on life.
I am excited to meet you all at this years YACC Retreat Yourself West 2012. I have been asked again to be a peer supporter. My first experience with YACC was back in the summer of 2007. I was looking for connections with young adults with cancer like me. I craved the need to talk and find someone who could understand and “get” what I was going through. So I braved the trip to go meet a need that I could not stop.
After that short weekend, I came home fulfilled. I was not alone. I had so much support. I learned coping skills and broke some of my personal barriers. I never imagined coming away from being a complete stranger, to having a family and friends that I have to this day. This is why attending a YACC Retreat will change your life for the good.
I continued to be involved with YACC, going to Survivor Conferences, and being a peer supporter for Retreat Yourself West 2009. I started my own young adult cancer support group, to help my peers connect to others. I wanted to give back what YACC gave me. Support and a big family who “get it.”
Today, I am healthy. Still have chronic issues from treatment, but live everyday to max. I live with my boyfriend of three years. He also has cancer and is another young adult like all of us. We met at a YACC Retreat and have been dealing with his re-occurrence and treatment of a brain tumor these past two years. Our realtionship works and we both “get it”! I now know what a supporter goes through, and that we need support too. We live each day as our last, and love each other like there is no tomorrow. There is no time for anything but.
I look forward to meeting you and sharing my experiences, struggles, highs and lows. But, most of all , to introduce and include you in this big family.
-Lindsay
