Social Media for Cancer Voyagers

Hey my people, Having a great exchange with Lynn, a new friend on our Well Again page on Facebook. She wants to send pix of her crocuses but she's not sure how to post. Anybody relate???? While the digital world was taking quantum leaps forward, a lot of us  were having cancer treatments that temporarily took up all our mental storage. So now here we are, and it feels like the world is just galloping ahead and how will we catch up? 

What if it's a matter of openness and generosity? We already know that isolation is one of the most painful things about cancer. We already know that the online world is an awesome tool to bring us together. Doesn't it seem like we could figure out a way to help each other master the online basics, so we could reach out and connect?

Anybody care to post on my Well Again wall and tell Lynn in three steps how to post a picture of her crocuses?  

So much more!

I've been dreaming up Well Again in my own mind for two years. I dreamed how great it would be to connect with even a few cancer vets out here in Survivorworld. After only two days of hearing your generous responses on our Contact page, I realize I had no clue how fantastic you are. You're SO MUCH MORE amazing than "civilians" know.

It's not just that you have courage. People are forever telling me how courageous I am, which is sort of silly in a well-meaning way.  (What am I going to do, NOT run out of the burning building? Maybe you relate.) Our courage is not what people think. It's more like a beautiful defiance we learn as we're buffeted around between recurrence and the fear of remission. What I'm saying is, this is not well understood and it's nobody's fault, but people congratulate us for the wrong stuff.

So here we are with all these insights going on (yeah, a bunch we didn't ask for, but still). And there's nobody to tell!

I say we deserve more!

And from your messages, so do you. Well Again is going to be adding a lot of cool functions, including some you may never have considered. But that's yet to come, and I want to build our community right now.  So I hope you'll think about working with what we've got at this moment. Let us get to know you! 

You're seeing some of my favorite adventures in our Gallery; please post your own pix and stories at Well Again on Facebook.

And SEND ME COMMENTS on this blog! Y'all are way more interesting than anybody knows. Talk it on up, people! Whatever you care to share will be amazing. I can't wait. More next time.

Warmest regards, 

Anne

Welcome to Well Again

I’m Anne Stockwell, founder of Well Again™, a new organization for cancer survivors and the people who love them. Well Again is not about fighting the fight or finding the cure. Thousands of wonderful people are meeting those challenges.

Well Again is about something more mysterious. It's about helping each other find the road back from cancer and into the rest of our lives. 

Medical treatment is so set on mapping our progress, you’d think they'd have a map to get us home. But no. When you’re diagnosed, everything happens in a jumble. It’s almost hysterical—like a cartoon ambulance screeches around the corner, and cartoon orderlies jump out and take you off to Cancerville, where amazing people save your life. But then…it's over. The cartoon ambulance spits you out again—Bye bye!—and they’re off to save somebody else’s life, and you’re alone. 

What now?

I've faced that question three times so far, and it's always been a gift. Crazy as it seems, cancer filled me with the capacity for joy. It showed me that my life was an adventure, and for 11 years, that's how I've lived it. (Check out my gallery for a few of the wonderful adventures that have come my way.)

Well Again is about helping every cancer survivor get home from Cancerville and rejoin the adventure of life. In my blog, look forward to Well Again updates, photos and stories from cancer survivors, links I love and your content, too! More on that next time.

Warm regards,

Anne