On May 10th, it had been 5 years since my cardiac tumor was diagnosed. Initially, we thought it was a benign myxoma, so everyone was shocked when the pathology came back showing it was an extremely rare, highly aggressive, virtually 100% fatal soft-tissue sarcoma.
To mark this milestone, I sent the following email to my multidisciplinary oncology team at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. They've been absolutely amazing through this process and I can't possibly thank them enough.
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Wednesday marked 5 years since my cardiac tumor was discovered. Ironically, that would have been my sister Mindy's 53rd birthday. She died at 21 of an anaplastic astrocytoma.
Thank you all for all you've done over the past 5 years to keep me alive and healthy. There's no way I can repay you all, so I try to pay it forward via our podcast, YouTube channel, and personal conversations with other patients and caregivers dealing with cancer.
I'm currently in therapy to decide how to spend the rest of life, now that I'm not constantly fighting cancer. That's been a big paradigm shift. I also got a new job that's much more rewarding and offered a 40% raise. It took knowing I've got more time to be willing to make that leap.
It's been a decade since my first diagnosis and we're happily looking towards the future. We've booked a month in Italy next summer to shop for an apartment and Kev bought me a Vespa a few weeks ago for my birthday so I can practice for living abroad (see attached).
I hope all of you have a lovely weekend and a happy Mother's Day, where applicable. You're doing something that means so much to so many.
Much love and appreciation,
Heidi
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