Spotlight on: Annie, author of the blog Living with CML
Active in the CML Community since: My son Steven was diagnosed March 2006
Occupation: I fix, build, repair, re-program, de-virus, and upgrade computers
What do you do when you’re not raising awareness about CML: Photography, travel as much as possible, catch up with family and friends
What prompted you to start blogging after you learned of Steven’s diagnosis in 2006?
Writing has always been an outlet for me. Most times when you go through something this huge in your life, others cannot possibly “get it” without having gone through the exact same thing. So no matter how my family and friends wanted to help, they couldn’t. Writing it down became a way to sort through and get rid of some of my frustrations and feelings of horror.
It was a very emotional and scary time and to tell the details over and over again as family or friends asked, took a lot out of me. Blogging was a way that I could tell it once and everyone who wanted to know could get the information. It also made it easy for those who did not know how or what to ask to keep up to date and deal with it in small chunks at a time.
What do you wish someone had told you when you first learned that Steven had CML?
That they had made a mistake and that he just had flu…
I am not sure that anything anyone could have told me would have sunk in or made a difference when we first learned that Steven has leukemia. Getting Steven to see Dr. Druker about five months after his diagnosis was the very best thing we could have done. Dr. Druker instilled such peace, hope and normalcy in us all. After that meeting, I listened to my son sing as we drove from Portland to the coast. That’s not an ordinary occurrence and it was truly a beautiful noise! That was a turning point in all our lives. A good one. I wish a “Dr. Druker visit” on everyone with CML.
Be sure to check out Annie’s WEGO Health Profile and welcome her to the community!
Interested in learning more about CML and other types of Leukemia? Join the WEGO Health Group.
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