To the survivor who is scared shitless about traveling alone to CancerCon
An Open Letter from the Attendee Who Went Alone and Found Herself: Stupid Cancer Open Letters
Scared shitless? That was me a few years ago when I attended my first CancerCon. Two days after I finished treatment, I decided to take that leap and sign up for CancerCon. I was so excited to attend but incredibly nervous to travel all the way to Denver by myself. I’ve never been to Denver, I’ve never been on a plane by myself, and I didn’t know anyone there.
The night before I left, I was panicking and asked myself, “Why am I doing this?” and, “Will people like me?” I arrived in Denver and nervously went to one of the tours on Thursday where I sat next to a girl on the bus. We instantly started talking and I was blown away that she was my age, had the same cancer twice just like me, went through the same treatment, and we had so much in common.
Later on the tour, I met someone else who had the same cancer as me and it turns out we grew up five minutes from each other. We never would have met otherwise and now he’s one of my best friends in the whole world. That all just happened on Thursday and CancerCon technically didn’t even start yet!
The weekend continued as I met new people and attended the other activities and sessions. We all laughed, we cried, we shared so many feelings, and we understood what each other had been through. This was the group of people I never knew I needed until I landed in Denver by myself a little lost.
These people helped me fix the piece of me that was broken from having cancer. CancerCon helped me find a purpose and now I am insanely involved in Stupid Cancer. Taking that jump to go to CancerCon alone is one of the things I am most grateful for.
Sincerely,
The attendee who went alone to CancerCon and found herself
