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Not Wasting My Cancer
Whoa, did I just say not wasting my cancer? I did, now take a breath and let me explain.
In February of 2023, I began treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). In February of 2024, treatment will end and I will be in remission. My remission is being defined as a “deep remission". I’m excited to be done and even more excited about remission.
You might be asking yourself, "Why didn’t she say something? Why didn’t she tell me?"
There were three driving factors in my decision: 1) The boys. I wanted them to have the space to live their lives without additional daily reminders of my cancer. 2) I wanted to focus on my treatment but also on living and didn’t want to talk about it every day. 3) I didn’t want anyone worried about me, feeling sorry for me, or treating me differently.
No matter how you feel about it, we all try our hardest to figure out our best path forward. This was mine.
What’s next for me in remission? After a lot of thought, prayer, listening, and many serendipitous signs, it has become clear there is something I am supposed to do.
Through a partnership with Swim Across America and Swim Trek, I have been given an entry into the Hellespont cross-continental swim in August of this year. The Hellespont is the world's oldest open water swim crossing the strait of the Dardanelles (connecting the Aegean and Black Seas) in Turkey between the continental boundary of Asia and Europe. The swim is roughly a 5k with a strict cutoff time as this is the world's busiest shipping lane and it needs to be closed for the swim event.
My goal is to swim the Hellespont and raise $50,000 for research and ultimately bring us closer to a cure. Fortunately, I have time to finish treatment, train and raise the money. I believe it can be done.
Join Jb’s Crew, donate, share the link, or come train with me (it does on occasion get boring). If you donate $50 or more, I'll send you a cool Jb's Crew t-shirt as a token of my appreciation.
I will keep you updated on the progress in the water, the fundraising effort, and most importantly, the research we fund.
Here's to not wasting my cancer. Let’s GO!
#makewavestofightcancer, #swimacrossamerica, #swimtrek, #jbscrew
JB
Read my whole story about all my crazy connections to SAA here: https://saaswim.com/2024/07/02/julia-brookshire-saa-2024/