Five years ago, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and I had chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed by harsh intravenous drugs for a year. I had three operations, including removal of all my lymph nodes under one arm because the cancer had progressed. The year I finished cancer treatment I watched a movie, The Way, about a grieving father walking the Camino de Santiago. His son had been killed in an accident while crossing the road never completing his dream of walking the Camino de Santiago. The father took his son’s ashes on the journey releasing both the ashes and the pain of his loss when he reached the end. The movie struck a chord: I had suffered a tragic loss, too, when twenty years earlier my husband was killed in a car accident when we were travelling. So, five years on from my metastatic cancer diagnosis, I decided I would walk the Camino de Santiago as well. On my own, though not alone, of course.
You are behind me
I do not have to turn around
You are in front of me
I am walking toward you
You are beside me
More than any abyss and any mountain
You are in me
I can find you everywhere
If the seeds in the black earth
Can turn into beautiful roses
What might not the heart of man become
In its long journey to the stars
G.K Chesterton
Beautiful brave journey. I look forward to watching from afar. Blessings of love and light.
Thank you so much for being part of this journey.
I did this walk and wrote this blog to raise funds for research (through the Breast Cancer Foundation) because 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer everyday in New Zealand alone . World wide that probably means over 100 women were told they had cancer today . The goal is to make this disease history in your life time , together, I believe, we can join together , around the world , to make it possible.
http://takeaction.org.nz/page/sheilahailstonespage