The stories behind Lacuna Loft are the most important part of the organization.  These stories are courageous and powerful beyond measure.  This is a piece of Sara’s Story…

When I was first diagnosed with cancer at the age of 24, I felt alone, lost and suddenly disconnected from others in my age group. Going through a health crisis of this nature at such a young age was not something people my age could relate to, and I felt isolated. When I started writing with the group of young survivors, I immediately found solace in the family of young adults who knew exactly what it felt like to walk this path of sickness and healing. Writing with this group not only helped me to no longer feel isolated, it provided me the therapy to process my situation in a healthy way. It offered me a tool to cope and feel grounded in myself. It helped me see my gifts and my purpose in the world. It empowered me to share my voice with others because I felt safe to do so. It helped me to feel connected to myself, my creativity and other people in a way that no other therapy or program has ever been able to offer.

I am deeply grateful to Lacuna Loft and the wonderful group of people that make up this organization. This group of powerful young writer warriors has brought so much healing to my life. I believe I would not be as well off in my health and confidence if I didn’t have the support of such a beautiful group.

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What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!

The stories behind Lacuna Loft are the most important part of the organization.  These stories are courageous and powerful beyond measure.  This is a piece of Katie’s Story…

On December 2, 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had just turned 34 years old at the time, and my son, Wes, was just 3 months old. The best time in my life quickly turned into the worst. I completed 5 long months of chemotherapy followed by surgery and then 5 weeks of radiation. I had the best possible response to my treatment—and I was so incredibly grateful for that—but I was searching for a sense of relief after finishing treatment and really struggled to find it. No one tells you that the fear that consumes you after treatment is over can be worse than actually going through the treatment. A fellow survivor recommended Lacuna Loft to me. Writing has always been an important part of my life so I thought maybe it could help me deal with all of the thoughts and fears that came after my cancer diagnosis. And it certainly did. I shared so much with strangers because they too knew what I was going through, they too felt the fear that I felt. And while it didn’t bring me the sense of relief I was looking for, it brought a different kind of relief that I didn’t know I needed to start to heal from all of this.

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What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!

The stories behind Lacuna Loft are the most important part of the organization.  These stories are courageous and powerful beyond measure.  This is a piece of Amy’s Story…

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer on February 4, 2013, I was six months into a new job and in the middle of an antagonistic divorce from my now ex-wife. I had my daughter with me six nights a week and was trying to find my “new normal.” My grandmother, who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer more than thirty years earlier, died the day I heard the words, “You have cancer.”

The next two years were a blur: surgery after surgery, chemo, radiation, herceptin, tamoxifen, lupron, exemestane. Somewhere in there, I got divorced and changed jobs again. One day I looked around and realized I couldn’t recognize my life anymore. I had also lost myself, and I didn’t know how to find other young people like me who had had the rug pulled out from under them with so much more living to do.

Then I found Unspoken Ink. The first time I saw Mallory and Jen in small boxes on my computer (we were using google hangout), in the spring of 2016, I wasn’t quite sure how an online real-time writing group would work for me; I was someone who liked to curl up with an unlined journal to write, and I rarely shared my work without revising it multiple times. Yet every Wednesday night I looked forward to sitting down in front of my computer with a journal, a pen, and a cup of tea (or sometimes a glass of wine, if I’d had that kind of day).

Through Unspoken Ink, Lacuna Loft helped me find quiet spaces in which to make sense of my experiences, and community in which to share them. I loved hearing other peoples’ stories, too, whether through poetry or haiku or song. I became a writer again, and a listener and a friend.

I have participated in two sessions of Unspoken Ink, and I was lucky enough to meet Mallory in person at the Young Survival Coalition Conference in Oakland last year. She is an amazing resource, and the fact that she works so hard to make it possible for people like me to participate in programs that help us to reclaim our lives, blows me away. I am grateful to Lacuna Loft, and I can’t wait to apply for the next session of Unspoken Ink!

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What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!