At the age of 2 1/2 was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma of the right eyelid. Mine came up with what was thought to be a stye and took me to surgery to lance it. That’s when it was determined to be cancer. I took 21/2 years of 3 different iv chemo’s and radiation and cobalt. I finished these near fatel years in time to start kindergarten. I kind of used the stuffing inside coping mechanisms throughout school years. I lost my right eye and have a prosthesis. Of course I went through being called names and being stared at and I just pretended nothing was wrong and kept going. My health has been up and down and at the age of 42 now deal with left over affects from so much chemo in about every body system. I did get married and have a 20 year old miracle daughter!

Divorced now but also went from high school into nursing and worked as a critical care RN until a near fatel car accident occurred as I fell asleep driving home from work on the interstate.When I first met Karen recently for the first time I have had lots of feelings and experiences that I hadn’t dealt with. I am elated to have found this group and such a wonderful and very relatable person as Karen and Face2Face. Just to talk of some of my feelings and finding out there are others out there that do understand has in a weird way been a relief and has helped with understanding several levels of depression at different levels and times in my life. I hope to be able to help raise awareness of this group and even more so hope to help someone else through their journey.