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The Cancer Warrior's Guide
So you've heard..... "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you have cancer".
This website is devoted to those recently diagnosed with cancer who are struggling to come to terms with it but are ready to join the battle. It provides you with a true and personal account of my own battle with cancer, lessons learned, what worked for me and things that may help you in your own battle. I have been asked a lot about the website address "cancerwarrior.com" and it's origination. When I was first diagnosed and given the initial prognosis for my particular cancer, I did not like the prospects. I was determined to figure out a way to change the projected outcome and began feverishly searching for a direction, a plan, an inspiration from somewhere...anywhere.
As I began to gather information from every resource I could find I came across some old descriptions of ancient Samurai Warriors and their approach to the art of battle. True Samurai believed in total preparation for the upcoming battle. This included not only complete physical training for their body, training in weaponry of all possible kinds, and also complete spiritual preparation. Total preparation of mind and body was the secret of all great Samurai warriors. This was exactly what I needed, complete and total mind and body preparation for my approaching personal battle with cancer. In short, I had to become a "Cancer Warrior"! The idea and name appealed to me and thus cancerwarrior.com was born.
Initial Diagnosis
If your like me, your first reaction may have been complete numbness followed by a barrage of thoughts within your head that came on so fast within an instant you were sure that your head may explode. Then came the feeling of being detached from the very conversation you were now part of, almost as if you were observing it taking place between two other people. This can't be right......why is this happening? What did I do to cause this? Why me?
Whatever your reaction may have been after the initial shock wears off, your faced with the daunting task of addressing the fact that you have cancer and now you have to face it and figure out how to beat it.
"Every negative event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit"
Napoleon Hill
Where is the handbook? Who do I turn to for advice? What are my options? Is that my only choice? Who do I trust? Who has the final say so? What are my alternatives? Surgery? Radiation? Chemotherapy? Holistic healing? Alternative medicines? Will I survive? What about my family? My kids? These are just a few of the things that may run through your head.
"Cancer".... can you think of a more insidious word used in conjunction with your personal health? No matter how you feel now (and you are entitled to feel however you wish, whenever you wish!), you have to ask yourself this "What is the potential opportunity that my situation now presents to me?"
Why? Because you are being given an opportunity that very few people will ever have, the opportunity to become that which you have always been destined to be. That's right, your cancer could be viewed as a gift (or a wake up call) from the collective consciousness or God or whatever you choose to call it.
It is my belief that my cancer was my opportunity to change who I am, to grow to my potential and proceed to my destiny whether it was here in this body or elsewhere. I don't know what gift you have been given, but I know it is there if you will only look for it! But first.....
You Gotta Survive
Whatever, whenever and however many times you have to do it, you have to be prepared to fight with everything you have to survive. This is like trying out for the Navy Seals or Rangers Special Forces programs except there is no instructor who when you've physically had all you can take will say "good try kid, wash out now while your okay and come back another time to see if you have what it takes to make it". You can't give up, you can't fail, you can't quit and there is no washing out. As my mentor and role model Lance Armstrong says "It's either fight or die". I'm pretty sure you want to fight and that's why you found this website and have read this far!
The Preparation
Begins
When I first began to look for a resource, an all encompassing website that could provide my planning tools and help with my questions I found most sites incomplete. Several had some excellent information, but I was looking for complete base to work from. After a lot of trial and error I got lucky and found a site that not only had valuable information, but an attitude of survivorship. It is my suggestion that you use this tool to it's full capability. Click on the link below and set up a free account and order your "Survivorship Notebook" , it's FREE!
Many of you may have read about the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the invaluable work they are doing. For me, www.laf.org , became my base of operations. There is where the preparation begin. I felt as if the survivor's attitude of the foundation was the perfect fit for my new warrior mentality. Lance Armstrong has proven to be the penultimate warrior and he was and is a personal inspiration for me and thousands of others.
Does it resonate within you?
That's the question you have to ask yourself as you begin to lay the groundwork and explore all of the information coming at you from all directions and sources. Listen to the advice of the professionals you are working with but understand that they are people just like you and you must get as many opinions as it takes until you are comfortable with what will ultimately be your decision. Make sure it resonates within you, trust your intuition, your gut or whatever you want to call it. It is not often wrong! I failed to do this initially in my treatment and caused myself and others a lot of pain and grief because of it.
No holding back!
Once you have made your treatment choices and picked your team of professionals there is no half way. You have got to put everything you have into what will be the fight of your life, for your life. Will you want to quit and maybe give up at times? Probably, but then you will regroup and attack again and again with everything you have left. When you think you can't do it anymore go to LAF.org and read the survivor stories posted there for you. It took me about two minutes to find survivors who were so much more worthy of the title "cancer warrior" than I ever could be. Their willingness to take everything that cancer, it's treatment and life can throw at you and go on is true inspiration. It will get you through another day!
If you want to hear more about my cancer experience click this link and you can read My personal story, the short version(?).
For some simple thoughts to keep you on track, click here.
My name is Mark Porch, I am a cancer survivor, a Cancer Warrior and I LiveStrong!