Natalie Glaser

Survivor

Not long after my diagnosis, I watched a video of photos that were takin during a woman’s journey through breast cancer. The photos were done in black and white, and told the terrifying tale of a cancer patient who ultimately lost her life to this disease. The photos were absolutely beautiful but at the same time were very dark and depressing. You could actually feel the pain that this woman and her family endured. Although these photos were stunning, they were absolutely frightening to me as a newly diagnosed cancer patient and, for a brief moment, stripped all of my hope of beating this ugly disease. When I went to bed that night, those images were all I could see in my head and I was angry, angry that someone stripped me of all my hope. So…I made the decision that woman’s journey would NOT be my journey. My journey was going to to be filled with color not black and white. My journey was going to show me smiling not crying. My journey was going to make people laugh not cry. And…my journey was going to end in life….not death. So one of the ways I brought color into my cancer was through scarves. Cancer could take my hair but not my style. I looked for them everywhere, clearance racks, thrift stores, my husband even made some of them for me. Friends and family also would find for them as well. They became these little treasures that brought color, fun and hope into my cancer.