I was diagnosed in June, 1999 at the age of 43.

Ellen

Since diagnosis in June 1999, I went through chemotherapy treatments, mastectomy surgery, high dose chemotherapy/stem cell transplant, and radiation. All that, and I still visit the oncology department every month for a dose of Aredia, to fight off the bone mets. So, nearly three years later, I'm not dying of cancer (as I once feared), but am living with cancer.

When I look at pictures of me with no hair and bright red blotches on my neck from the radiation, I don't think of those memories. Instead, I think of my daughter's high school graduation and celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. It is important to believe that you can move past the treatments. No doubt, you will view life a little brighter than most people around you.

For quite awhile, I thought I had to do something special (like solve world hunger) since I'd been given this second chance. But now I know, that if I can share just a little of that brightness that I know is there, then I've done something special. I guess that is one 'secret' to being a warrior -- share your hope so, when you need it to come back to you, it will be there to surround you.

Please click on the title of the song in order to hear the music.

I Hope You Dance

Click on the vocal file of this song, but it takes longer to download.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leaves you empty handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth making

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out, Reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion, always)

I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)

I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)

I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Daaaaaaaaance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion, always)

I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)

I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)

I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)

Dance
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder

Dance
Where those years have gone

* * * * * * * * *

Recorded by Lee Ann Womack
Written by Mark Sanders and Tia Sillers
Backup vocals by Sons of the Desert