Life has been full over the past year. I look back in appreciation for the moments and memories that allow me to say thank you to 2022 as we head into its final hours. Enjoying the company of family members much more often now that Baur and I have relocated to California. Deepening relationships with friends in the yoga community in the U.S. and around the world. Maintaining and nurturing friendships that started in Kazakhstan decades ago. Traveling again after a several-year hiatus. Listening to music. Chanting. Being spoiled with so many incredible places to eat vegan food in the Bay Area. Reuniting with family members and friends at my cousin’s wedding in May. Savoring phone calls and text exchanges with extended family and dear friends. Taking a short daily nap with a comfortable blanket and cat by my side. Meaningful work with incredibly dedicated colleagues. Watching the sunrise and sunset at every chance. The list could go on.
As a cancer survivor, nearly two years after my initial diagnosis, 2022 gave me so many moments of learning and reflection. Frustration as well - no doubt! But for today, I’d like to share what I’m thankful for from the perspective of an individual living with brain cancer.
Completing treatment in summer 2022. My body didn’t do well with chemotherapy, and while I am grateful for the treatment, I was so relieved to be done with adjuvant chemo in the summer of 2022. I appreciate my healthcare team, family, friends, and colleagues who helped me to make it through the 16 months of treatment in 2021 and 2022. I will most likely have treatment again someday down the road, but for now, I have a break. For that, I am profoundly grateful.
Finding camaraderie, support, and inspiration in the larger cancer community. Our family became part of something much larger with my cancer diagnosis. We have joined other survivors, families, and the larger network of institutions that support individuals and their families living with cancer. Through different communities, both on and offline, I’ve found so much hope, resilience, and inspiration from individuals all around the world. We have to develop and practice resilience. We have to find tools and ways to stay optimistic and hopeful, even amidst difficult moments. We have to support one another. Looking ahead, I am excited over the next six months to deepen my own studies with yoga4cancer, an organization that helps cancer patients and survivors manage treatment side effects and cancer recovery through evidence-based oncology yoga. Oncology yoga has been a huge part of my own recovery, and I hope to share it with others in the future. In addition to yoga4cancer, I've benefited so much from the amazing teachers and classes at Magnolia House - thank you, Tower Cancer Research Foundation!
Supporting medical research and striving for a cure. Soon after my diagnosis, our family found out about the non-profit organization Oligo Nation, which focuses exclusively on oligodendroglioma, the rare form of brain cancer that I have. We started our ‘Steps to a Cure’ benefit campaign in 2021 and then again (in person!) in 2022. I so appreciate this organization’s efforts to change the future for individuals living with oligodendroglioma. Our family and friends are 100% behind Oligo Nation. We also support other organizations. It was amazing to participate in the beautiful Head for the Cure Foundation 5K at Chrissy Field in San Francisco in October 2022 - and to participate alongside my neuro-oncologist as well. I was also proud to support fellow brain cancer survivors who, through their own efforts, fundraise for the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA). We will continue to fundraise, advocate, walk, and run to support organizations working to find more effective treatments to benefit individuals living with cancer.
In 2021, I was very much a cancer patient grappling with so much unknown. There were so, so many questions. In 2022, my mindset slowly started shifting. As I came closer to the end of treatment, I started becoming more confident and comfortable with the term survivor. I attend support groups for individuals with brain cancer who are not only patients and survivors, but thrivers. I attend yoga classes for individuals with cancer ranging in age from their 20s to probably 80s, and am inspired by how they show up, smile, and participate in class. And whether recently diagnosed or years along, they keep showing up. I will continue to as well.
Thank you and farewell, 2022! As we turn the page to a new year, wishing you all a happy and healthy start to 2023!
December 31, 2022
Photo: a moment of gratitude in December 2022; sunrise over Marina Bay, Richmond, California
wow!!