Not Broken. Not Mending.

sewing a scar closed tattoo

What if we started from the premise:
we are not broken.
we are not mending.

We are living through one day that just so happens to be nothing like the last.  We are crying tears few our age understand and grieving losses too old for our young years.

What if we started from the understanding:
we are not broken.
we are not fighting.

We are seeing glimpses into a world more complicated than might be.  Nursing wounds both inside and out.  We are learning to love and live in a way both profound and terrifying.

What if we start from the knowledge:
we are not broken.

There is nothing to fix, everything to lose, and everything to gain.  Just like before.

What if we start to tell ourselves:
we are not broken.

We are in process.  We are changing.  We are living in and through great hurt and compassion.

How would you respond to the writing prompt, a tattoo of a needle and thread sewing up a scar?

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This writing comes directly from one of our participants in our Unspoken Ink Creative Writing Group for young adult cancer survivors.  The participants met for 2 hours each week, for 8 weeks during our Winter 2018 session.  This writing has not been edited since its original creation, showing the wonderfully raw and powerful prose coming from the courageous writing group participants each week.  If you’d like to sign up for future sessions, please email info@lacunaloft.org or sign up on our interest form.

The Current Face Of Advocacy

young adult cancer advocacy

The world around us is changing.  Smart phones make instant communication a reality and a necessity.  Learning to be a better advocate in the midst of all of this constant noise can be a challenge.  Organizations around the world, supporting different causes are up to this task and are slowly coming up with more and more creative ways to cut through the crap and help affect real change.  Young adult cancer advocacy requires this same initiative and drive.

I wrote about this and more on the Scar Stories blog.

better advocates 2

You can read the full article here!

Have any thoughts about young adult cancer advocacy that you’d like to share?

Have You Checked Out The Scar Stories Book?

Scar Stories book

A really great Aussie organization, Scar Stories, has just added a United States shipping option to their online shop!  What started as one photo of Jasmine, the founder of Scar Stories, and her cancer scar has grown into a young adult cancer advocacy organization.  Through their initiatives, Scar Stories shows that physical scars can be seen in a new and empowering light.  The book funds the many awesome programs that Scar Stories has, including Rock Scars (where rock stars pose in photo shoots with young adult cancer survivors), Creative Programs (an art program allowing young adult cancer patients and survivors to access free art, music, and photography classes and workshops), ScarreDecks (helping young people with gnarly scars feel empowered by their bodies), and more.

This is the new face of young adult cancer advocacy.  Scar Stories truly embodies the need to show all sides of cancer while empowering and enlivening survivors along the way.  Jasmine was the first young adult cancer survivor whom I ever spoke with.  Her Aussie accent made me feel instantly comfortable and the amount of things that we had in common, even from across the world, were innumerable.  Speaking with her made me realize how much I needed to have other young adult cancer survivors in my life, how much I needed to know their stories and their lives, and how similar our external and internal scars are.

A little bit about the book…

Jasmine Gailer, founder of Scar Stories, and Kylie Cobb, Marketing and Design Director, have worked tirelessly to design a ‘coffee table’-style book that shows the incredible talent of the photographers who have been involved, and the true beauty of the cancer patients and survivors who have courageously made their scars and stories public.

Some of the images may shock you. Some may bring you to tears. Hopefully, ultimately you will be inspired by the tenacity and courage of these young (and young at heart) people. …they have fought for their lives and by sharing their scars through photographs and stories, have gained a new perspective on life and their journey, seeing their scars in a new light – one that is empowering and beautiful.

“We believe this book will change some people’s lives, perspectives, or at the very least raise some public awareness about what it means to be scarred,” said Jasmine.

Looking for a cool coffee table book that is honest and raw in its betrayal of young adult cancer survivors and their scars?  Look no further!  Check out Scar Stories’s online shop today and grab yourself a copy of their inaugural Scar Stories book!

Fine Print:  Lacuna Loft receives no commission on sales of the Scar Stories book.  Young Adult Cancer advocacy organizations stick together!