LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE L-O-V-E !!!

last week i attended a mother/daughter cancer fundraiser. i would have attended this event regardless of the guest speaker; but admit i was more interested in this one, because it was geralyn lucas. she wrote a book called, "why i wore lipstick to my mastectomy", and i always admired her.

i admit to being somewhat of a "stalker". i find lots of info on lots of different things , (mostly really obscure, ridiculous, trivial and useless things), via the internet. but with geralyn, i was a "stalker" for all the right reasons. i had googled her in the past and learned a lot about her story. i find her to be an incredible role model and i just really liked her.

so we go to the event, and even tho geralyn claims she doesnt look like she does on her book cover; i immediately recognize her. she is as beautiful in real life as she is on her book cover. im obviously going to meet her. how could i not? but first i had to say "hiiiiiiiiiii, how aaaaaaaaaare you?" to all of the yentas there. and then i have to shop at the little boutiques. (i mean, a girl has to have her priorities in order, right?) but when im done...i get in line to meet geralyn. i never wait in line. i cant stand it. and i generally never really care to go out of my way to meet anyone famous or well known either. i never understood that...(or autographs either). when people say, "the president is coming to town and we can go meet him at ...blah blah blah...", my response is, "who the hell wants to meet the president?" maybe im jaded from living in LA. i dunno. all i know, is that i dont find it necessary to wait in a line to meet someone; but geralyn is an exception. and i tell her this as soon as it is my turn to meet her. she is honored! she cries! we hug! and i immediately just adore this girl. i wish i had another 15 hours with her, because we could have gone on and on and on. i think i like her so much, because she is sooo much like myself! and we all know how much i love myself....(with the exception of some physical traits!) so we chat and i tell her my abbreviated story, and we discuss some of the parallels in our lives. we are both mothers, writers, speakers, and young cancer survivors and advocates. we both have sons named "hayden" who are exactly a year apart. yeah...there are some differences. she speaks all over the world... i speak at local events. her book is a best seller....mine is still in my computer. she was a guest on "the view" ...and i watch that show! she wears lipstick...and me? not so much. but we bond and she tells me that im her hero, (as if!!!!) and i need to write my book. she says that it will help a tremendous amount of people, and that she wants to link my blog to her website and will help me with whatever i need to get my story out. now, i know how busy i am with letters i get from people, so i can only imagine what she has going on. i think she is as genuine as they come. the real deal. but i also think that she, like myself, bonds very easily with people. i also think we both want to help EVERYONE. i also know that even tho i WANT to do so...it isnt humanly possible. this is one of the reasons why she wrote her book. she had too many people to help, and the book was a good way to do it on a mass scale. so...no....i dont think shell have the time to hang out with me and my best friend or anything, (even tho i looooooooove her soooooooo much!) but she did inspire me to maybe get off my ass and start writing. i encourage everyone to buy her amazing book

ok...so as good as that is....its not even the most relevant part of this story. (i hope youre not bored yet! its almost over...i promise. 

at the end of geralyns amazing speech...SHE MENTIONS ME AND ASKS WHERE I AM IN THE AUDIENCE! i wave my arms and she gives me a nice shout out. i was floored. how honored am i? ok...but even THAT is not why this story is so inspirational to me.

afterwards, a girl comes running over to me, "lori! do you remember me?" ok...i knew she looked familiar. i just couldnt place it. it turns out...she is natalie. a girl i met at karmanos a few years ago. now i have to pause this story for a little background info on natalie. when i was first a patient at karmanos, a nurse asked me if i was interested in donating a tube of blood at each appointment, for a study. i was told there was a young girl who was passionate about finding an early detection for ovarian cancer, and was using blood to find a common link in people with ovarian cancer. of course i agree to be in the study. i want to help these people find a cure for our future!!! so...in walks a drop dead beautiful, skinny young girl. you know...the kind of girl you want to dislike, because shes so perfect. but you cant dislike natalie....because she is as sweet as she is beautiful. and this is how i met natalie.

fast forward to when she comes running up to me, (with her ridiculously beautiful identical twin sister in tow), and in a long, seemingly never ending run on sentence...she says, "lori, do you remember me?....natalie from the genetics dept at karmanos....i always thought about you...you were such an amazing person and so inspiring...always so upbeat...great attitude...and i wondered how your son was...and i always hoped to see you again.....I WAS DIAGNOSED LAST WEEK WITH BREAST CANCER AND IM HAVING SURGERY NEXT WEEK!!!!! " now shes crying. im stunned. she says all of this in one breath. and she has cancer? im. just. stunned! she goes on to tell me that she always wanted to contact me, but couldnt because of the HIPPA laws. but as a medical sales rep, she happened to call on my sister in law, (who is a doctor). lisa, (my sis-in-law) learns she used to work at karmanos, and asked if she knows me. of course she does, and she tells lisa to say hi to me, etc. (which, by the way, lisa does tell me). im flabergasted. at this event, i happened to be talking to my friend robyn and her friend kim when natalie ran up to me. both robyn and kim are young breast cancer suvivors. i say, "natalie! youre going to be fine! look at these girls here. theyre doing great! theyve have had chemo and surgery and reconstruction...and robyn is even pregnant!!!! and i (unfortunately) know MANY other young girls who i can introduce you to. youre never alone and you are going to be OK!" i am obviously NOT happy to hear that natalie has cancer. but i AM happy that she found me, along with a huge "young cancer" support system. and geralyn even gave natalie her own personal tube of lipstick to wear to her mastectomy. (chanel!)

so...this is what i find so incredible. the whole sequence of events that day are too "perfect" to be just a coincidence. first, because geralyn and i share so many similarities, we totally connect and she tells me that i must write my book; and by doing so...it will help many other people going thru this experience. then she mentions me in her speech, and natalie instantly knew she was talking about me. and then natalie finds me after wanting to connect with me for so long. there were over 700 people there that day. chances are i would never have connected with natalie if geralyn didnt mention me. i just find it totally amazing, inspirational and it gives me goosebumps. its this weird connection that young cancer survivors share. i dont believe in this as being a coincidence. this was kismet in its finest form. i hate having cancer. but i love the connections i have made from it!