Feeling free after living with breast cancer

Life after breast cancer is very difficult, especially if you fight this illness alone.

But at the same time it gave me my confidence back — almost — for life, after nearly giving up half the time, flying back and forth for six months.

It was very tiring: chemotherapy was the hardest, radiation much more tolerable.

I am glad this is behind me, plus freedom from a past relationship that was never there for me for at least 30-plus years.

To do this alone gives me the freedom to do what I like.

The patterns in my sewing have lots of stories to tell, because as I put stiches together I ask to be forgiven and start anew.

My patterns come out of my head, stories of sorrow, anger, depression and happiness rolled into one, all sewn with very frozen finger tips, a side effect of my treatment.

As I do not want anyone to go through what I did, please get a check-up women, men, boys, girls, teens, and regularly watch for a lump anywhere in your body.

Just be safe!

I am happy at this age to write about my illness. It heals me to living to be cancer-free one day.

I apologize to my children for what my past relationship put you through.

We are free now, and what matters to me is to have and be near you every single day as I live.

Kakolak
Cambridge Bay

Email your letters to editor@nunatsiaq.com.

Nunatsiaq News welcomes letters to the editor. But we are under no obligation to publish any given letter at any given time.

In our print edition, we usually print letters on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis. In our online edition, we usually print letters as soon as we are able to prepare them for publication.

All letters are edited for length, grammar, punctuation, spelling, taste and libel. You may withhold your name by request, but we must know who you are before we publish your letter.