A couple of weeks ago my husband and I were at Relay For Life of Weston Florida. As we were sitting in front of the stage, Steven in his gray Caregiver shirt, and me in my purple Survivor shirt waiting for the Opening Ceremonies to begin, the woman sitting next to me, also wearing a purple Survivor shirt, leaned over and asked what kind of cancer I survived.

Now normally, you wouldn’t go up to a perfect stranger and ask them such a question, but at Relay For Life it’s okay. We may come from different backgrounds, but at Relay For Life we have a common bond: cancer.

I turned to the woman and answered her question. I told her that I am a 16 1/2 year thyroid cancer survivor. I then asked her the very same thing. She told me she was a breast cancer survivor of just 2 years.

I told her that there is no such thing as ” just. ” I told her that every year, every day, every minute you have survived are reasons to celebrate. She looked at me , smiled ,and nodded, then stood up and went to receive a medal which was given to all survivors.

We don’t choose cancer, it chooses us. It is a hard-fought battle. One that forces us to use everything we have within us in order to get through. Some have lost this battle, and some continue to fight. Those of us who are survivors may have won our battles, but the war is far from over.

We must all band together to overcome the cruel, unforgiving enemy that is cancer.

Cancer won’t give up and neither will we.