Mar 18, 2009

3. Peace


Alberto Severino, Vienna, Austria.

Thanks a lot for your postcard, Alberto. Thanks for your own project (http://postcardworldpeace.blogspot.com/), that give me the inspiration for starting my own. I will keep your words: "many blessings, a lot of love, patience, endurance and understanding, and of course a very fast recovery".

Mar 3, 2009

2. Rosa

From my friend Rosa (Lisboa, Portugal):

A imagem que tenho das pessoas que me são queridas e passaram por uma experiência de cancro é de um grande poder de encaixe. Uma amiga do peito, após um tratamento de quimio, seguiu para uma manifestação, na altura, em prol de Timor Leste. Dizia, uma vez num internamento, que aproveitava o tempo para ler, pintar, fazer coisas de que gostava, porque lá fora, na ilusão da realidade, não havia tempo para si... Era uma roda viva de afazeres, obrigações, imposições, papéis sociais. Ali, naquele moomento, encontrou paz. Claro que tem uma parte do corpo doente. Sim, traz sofrimento. Mas será que aquela foi a única oportunidade que teve para parar? E contemplar o Sol?... Estas são palavras de quem passou apenas pela experiência de cuidador, bem sei. Este pode ser um tempo precioso de aprendizagem e aprofundamento pessoal. Tenho noção de que não se escolhe estar doente. Ninguém quer estar doente. Pode escolher-se a melhor forma de viver com a doença. Para qualquer pessoa que sofra de cancro, deixo a minha disponibilidade para um abraço e uma conversa ao vivo. Que todos estejam bem e que sejam felizes!

1. Laure

Receive an e-mail from Laure Waleffe (El Campello, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain):

"For the record, I got cancer (Hodgkin) in 1993, and I had chemotherapy for 8 months. In a way, I was lucky as I wasn't alone: my grandfather also had cancer at that time, but he was at the last stage. So I had someone to talk, someone who knew and understood what I was going through.

The best sentence for me is "I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it's not the headlamp of the high-velocity train", I thought it was so funny and made perfect sense.

The things that helped me most: I was writing down everything, good or bad. And also my best friend, who came to visit me almost every day when I was in the oxygen room, just to tell me how was her day. Nothing about the illness, just stupid things as "I went to the movie last night and kissed my boyfriend" or "We went to have dinner yesterday and it was so bad, I had to vomit in the toilets". You know, normal life...

The things I regret: people acting like idiots, like crossing the street when they saw me, in case it was contagious and also the fact that when I entered a room, everybody went silent, or stopped making jokes, as if I didn't have a sense of humour anymore."

Thank you Laure. Write any time you want.

Mar 2, 2009

Hello!

My name is Lurdes Monteiro, writing from Sintra (World Heritage), Portugal. I'm a cancer survivor since March 2008, meaning I was diagnosed with cancer (Hodgkin's disease) and I'm receiving cancer treatment since March 2008.

Living with cancer can be a potential lonely experience (don't working, being hospitalized, being home, being sick, etc.). So, I believe, we need to do all we can to make cancer a less lonely experience to every cancer patient.

Some days ago, looking at postcardworldpeace.blogspot.com, I have an idea...
...It will be wonderful if I can get a postcard form people all around the world writing about cancer experience...

So, if you are a cancer survivor...
- write me a sentence that best describe your experience
- write me about something that someone said or did that help you cope
- write me about something you wish someone say or do

If you are not a cancer survivor...
- ask a cancer survivor about his experience and write about
- visit your a cancer treatment center and write about
- do something that make cancer a less lonely experience to a cancer patient and write about

Send me your postcard to
Lurdes Monteiro
Casa do Largo da Capela, N.º 3
Eugaria
2705-207 Colares
Sintra, Portugal

Or send me a e-mail to
lurdes_monteiro@yahoo.com