We will never be cancer free
Some of us are blessed to hear the words no evidence of disease or cancer-free. Words we prayed for. Words we waited through scans, treatments, bloodwork, procedures, and unbearable stretches of uncertainty to hear. And when they finally come, there is relief. There is gratitude. There is a breath you did not realize you had been holding. But there is also a truth that rarely gets spoken: Those words do not mean there is no evidence that cancer was ever here. The evidence may no longer be visible on a scan, but it can still be found everywhere else. It is in the body that no longer feels or functions the way it once did. In the scars, the missing pieces, the lingering pain, the exhaustion, the damaged nerves, the altered voice, and the fear attached to every new symptom. It is in the appointments that continue long after treatment ends. It is in the box we will check for the rest of our lives when a new-patient history form asks whether we have ever had cancer. A single checkmark ...
