Guest Post: YOU MATTER

Selena's note: There are some people who come into your life and you feel immediately drawn to them. Juliana is one of those people for me. She exudes warmth, vitality and love. When I heard about her project, Loving It All, I wanted to help. I offered Juliana the opportunity to guest post and share her passion with you.

YOU MATTER. You are an unrepeatable miracle. We need your piece of the puzzle to heal the world.

This is the message of Loving it All, the documentary movie I’m creating to share the story of my life post-diagnosis with life-threatening chronic illness. It is what I’ve learned in 15 years of living with lupus, fibromyalgia, IBS, scleroderma, and more. (Yes, there’s more!)

I heard the doctor outside my exam room telling his student that “we need to find out how fast it’s moving and how long she has.” At that point, my lungs—I suppose I should say “lung”—was working 38% as effectively as a normal person’s. And lung damage from scleroderma is reported to be irreversible.

I’m happy to report that the reports are wrong! My most recent Pulmonary Function Tests show my lungs functioning at 71%, which makes me able to get out of bed almost every day!

I want to share with everyone coping with chronic conditions-or facing adversity of any kind-the tools that helped me. The film’s purpose is manifold: to educate civilians about what life as a woman with chronic illness is like—how strong we are, how much we cope with, how civilians can be helpful to us; to inspire people facing adversity to create their own coping strategies that work especially for them because we all know there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all; and to offer the coping strategies that worked for me in case there’s something in my story that will resonate with you.

Most importantly, I want you to know that YOU MATTER. When I had days weeks months years of feeling worthless and like I had nothing to give the world, I didn’t realize that just my presence, just my breathing and smiling, and just my love was enough— and more than enough. No one told me that I matter just because I’m me. I want to be sure to tell you.

So please watch and enjoy the video below. I’m especially fond of the part that compares us spoonies with Samuel L. Jackson. If you’re able to donate, please do. If I don’t raise the funds, the movie won’t happen, and the deadline is approaching.

I receive each $1 with immense gratitude. Without funding, this project will not happen.

If this project moves you but you’re not in a position to donate, please share it with your friends and friends you haven’t met yet! All together we can make a difference. WE MATTER.







PS Would you like the opportunity to guest post on Oh My Aches and Pains? Contact me with the details of what your would like to share with my readers.

Guest Post: The Unexpected Tree by Mary Carpenter

Bittersweet best describes the experience of being a cancer survivor. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, you can't escape getting burned on the transformative journey. The people that know this best are my fellow cancer survivors.

Let me introduce you to my friend Mary Carpenter. She's beaten breast cancer three times and has the double mastectomy scars to prove it. She expresses herself through her writing and poetry which she posts as notes on Facebook. I got tagged in her latest note and when I read this I knew I needed to share both her words and her artwork, with her permission, here on my blog.

I found that her words resonated with me and mirrored my own experience. But these themes of changes, growth, strength and resolve I think are universal to the struggle with any illness ... and to life in general.

Mary writes:

I have been a writer for a very long time. This is the poem I wrote the first time I was diagnosed with cancer. I remain defiant of cancer and embracing of life. I will not allow it to take from me all the good parts of who I am. Cancer will never touch those parts. I have continued to cherish the deepest parts of me and the strength of my amazing body through each of three cancer diagnoses. As dear Anna would say, "Cancer can bugger off!"

The Unexpected Tree

~by Mary E. Carpenter

Cancer is an illness
To most I know –
To me it is a tree
From which goals and changes grow.

I didn’t ask for it –
It didn’t ask for me,
But somehow a seed was planted
And I became a branch upon the tree.

More stems are slowly growing –
Along with leaves of vibrant green –
Not the roots of cancer;
But a strength that goes unseen.

It conquers all the illness –
It risks and takes a chance!
It reaches for survival,
Not ready for the last dance.

It doesn’t care for vanity –
The breast and hair can go.
It understands the cancer
Doesn’t know the resolve that it can sew.

The branches become bigger –
The roots ever deep –
Cancer can not reach the soul
Where fortitude does reap.

I hope you enjoyed this guest post as much as I did. If you have something you'd like to see posted on Oh My Aches and Pains!, please contact me.