I'm about to go head off to work on Nancia's runner. I dropped in here first though.
I agree that the mind is the #1 tool for getting through this disease. I'd like to share a story, and I'll try to keep it brief, about a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She and I met through the online support and study group for the university we both attended. I live in Alabama, and she lives in Kentucky, so we only talked online. She was about 6 months behind me, in the same major. When we got to know each other, she confided in me that she was battling breast cancer, but the doctors didn't expect her to survive long enough to complete her associates (2-year) degree. She enrolled in college as soon as they told her she would have to quit her brand new job for a more aggressive treatment, so she would have something to keep her busy and driven, since she would have the time to do the work while she wasn't working. In summer 2010, she finished her associates degree, despite a double mastectomy, chemo, radiation, and having to move in with a friend so she would have a live-in caregiver. The cancer spread for the second time as she began her bachelor's program. The doctors told her she should slow down and work on her bucket list. Her response was that finishing her degree was the biggest thing on her bucket list. She was told to prepare for the fact she wouldn't live to finish her bachelor's. Despite the cancer eventually spreading to her stomach, intestines, leg, pelvic and lower spinal bones, she didn't give up. She had two or three more surgeries to remove various tumors and part of her stomach, more chemo and radiation, and was told repeatedly she had weeks or just a couple months to live.
I met her in person in July 2012 when I went for her bachelor's graduation in Louisville, Kentucky. Another friend and I made the 500 mile drive, because I couldn't imagine not being there for her graduation. She was chosen as the undergraduate speaker for commencement, and as she stood at the podium and talked about facing challenges but refusing to give up, I sat at the back of the theater and cried. Two months earlier, the doctors told her there was nothing else they could do for her except radiation for pain management. Her response to them was "Good. So that means I can go back to work now," and she did. That day during her speech, I cried as much for her triumph as I did for the fact that those listening to her, who didn't know her story, didn't know that her biggest challenge wasn't over. Because she hadn't disclosed her illness to her employer, she couldn't include the fact she had cancer in her speech. Instead, they heard about her going from being homeless (which she was when she was diagnosed) and lacking family support, to having to live with friends and dealing with "other challenges" as she persevered through and finished her bachelor's degree. (She removed the mention of cancer from her final speech because the media was covering the event and doing a story on her, but it was in her audition speech, which brought the whole panel to tears.) She ended her speech by telling them that she was two weeks into her master's degree and still going strong.
As of now, she has 7 months left to finish her master's. Last Monday they started her back on treatment again. She said they were going super aggressive this time. I've emailed her, but haven't heard from her this week. I know she is probably not up to talking right now though, so I won't push. The school has agreed, because she has a 3.5+ GPA and a terminal illness, to let her walk in July. She's believing by then she will be healed, even though the doctors still say she won't live to see it.