Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A Livestrong Moment

One of our awesome USA soilders was on the flight home with us yesterday and after we had taken over the plane by taken over their loud speaker, trying to entice passengers to sing "Proud Mary" and had to explain that we were breast cancer survivors gone wild, a very soft-spoken soilder shared his own personal story of cancer with us. He told us his 4 year old little boy had just finished 41 chemo treatments and that his mom was also a two-time survivor of breast cancer. I gave him a couple of Livestrong wristbands and he in return gave me a couple of official US flag patches that soilders wear on their uniforms. I couldn't understand why the pattern of the flags appeared to run in the wrong direction until he went on to explain - he said the USA always looks to the future. He told me to "Look to the Future" and I told him to "LivesSTRONG" - what an incredible moment of sharing strength and confidence. We shared a moment of looking to our futures with courage and hope and I will never forget it. I will carry those flags the way I wear my Livestrong band, proudly and with boldness as I will never let cancer have my future.