The first time he met her, she laughed in his face. It was a cold, January morning in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in 1992. Dan Cramer was working for a political campaign at a Democratic meeting at the local Holiday Inn, and between presentations, he spotted what he describes as a ‘really beautiful ...

If you’ve ever experienced a catastrophic life event like cancer, death of a loved one, divorce or an accident, it is so important to deal with the emotional trauma that comes along with these events. The way that I've learned to deal with this is through my writing.

“I remember being in the doctor’s office,” Eric begins. “The oncologist and healthcare coordinator came in, and I knew it wasn't good by the look on their faces. Ashley was holding Madelyn when we got the full cancer diagnosis. They gave us the news, started talking about survivorship, and asking ...

It wasn’t a big thing. Many people may not have even noticed it. They might have just turned their heads, stared through the dusty, bus windows and gotten lost in the Peruvian mountainside and the music playing in the one earbud. To Andrés, though, it was a lasting, meaningful impression that would ...

The Meysembourgs came into 2018 on a high note. Their daughter, Mila, was born 3 months earlier, in October, and Nick just became partner in a sales company he’d worked at for over 11 years. They were on a roll.

Sarah DeBord Sarah DeBord lived with stage IV colon cancer since November of 2011, when she was diagnosed at the age of 34. She knew early on that there was no way out of this disease and that it would probably take her life. It wasn’t a young person’s cancer, and she was young. It was ...

Tom Scott: Giving all he had and finding all that matters most. Dani, Tom, Emmett, and Mia A lot has changed for Tom in the past 3 years. Three years ago, his wife, Dani, was diagnosed with breast cancer and given 3 years to put her ‘affairs in order.' Early in the spring of this year, two and a ...

Logan Greene: Talking a lot and saying more. In a year of monumental, global upheaval, where COVID-19 grips the world, and calls for social justice tear at the fabric of our society, people want to get out, but they’re told to stay in. They want to speak, but they’re told to cover their mouths. The ...

Allison Breininger: beyond the pain, the fear, the unknown, finding the grace to accept her role and recognize her own limitations as a caregiver, and sharing those truths with other caregivers. When she was younger, Allison marveled at the exciting and interesting lives others had. She’d grown up ...

Erik Therwanger: caregiving, one goal at a time. Building on the momentum of hope. Erik Therwanger is all about setting goals and meeting them, then building on that momentum to do even greater things. He’s all about giving back, serving others, and looking forward, with hope, toward the future.

Brian Zahn: From real love to real loss, to learning to live again - for their son and because that’s what she would want! Somewhere between classes, tests, parties, and everything else that goes on when young people go off to college, Brian and Melissa met. It was 2005 on the campus of the ...

Mark Mattson: Looking back with fondness and love. Looking forward with courage and resolution, knowing that she will always be with them! Mark & Teri - August 2019 High school sweethearts They met in high school through mutual friends. Soon after, they started dating and continued dating ...

Ishmael Israel: Dreams interrupted by parent’s worst nightmare. Waking up every day now, thinking: ‘it’s the first day of the rest of my life.' Ishmael Israel has spent much of his life helping others. Over the past 2 decades, he has advocated for people in his community and around the country ...

The First Year of Grieving Today, April 26th, marks the first anniversary of my husband’s death. What a difference a year can make in your life. At this time last year, I was running on very little sleep. I was so afraid that he would die while I was asleep on the couch next to him. By the day he ...

Caregiving is an interesting and winding journey Blessings in the Storm Until you, yourself, are a primary caregiver for someone you love, you have no idea what this adventure entails. In a way, it’s like being a kid that’s been transferred to another school, in a new country with a foreign ...

Rich Anderson: Breaking down, reaching out, living each moment to its most, every day. It was 2017, two years into their cancer journey, and Rich was feeling the weight of it all. He was struggling, trying to parent their daughter, Brielle, run a successful and growing business, take care of ...

“When you don’t know, talk to someone who does…” … she’s Diane Leavitt, from The StewARTworks Foundation, and she knows pain management and palliative care, and she’s here to talk about it and educate us.

Last time I saw Bob, he was sharpening an axe and practicing trick throws at an axe-throwing event hosted by Jack’s. Here I was, several years later, in the Dunn Brothers across town in Eagan, just waiting and wondering if there was more to Bob than what I'd seen of him that day.

Thanks to COVID-19, there’s a great big cloud of uncertainty that’s settled over all of us. And the long shadow it casts upon us is odd because we can’t see it. Heck, it was sunny out today. And the longer days and warming temperatures make us feel like spring has almost arrived and summer is just ...

Michael Greene: Cancer caregiving, but then dealing with life, too. And then finding himself.

Alan Christensen: On living life in fast forward. I met Alan at his St. Paul home in mid-December. He and Sara, his wife, had moved there in early 2018, 4 months before her first symptoms began and 5 months before she was diagnosed with Angiosarcoma cancer.

My wife, who has been living with cancer for over 4 years, received some troubling news about our cancer journey. This isn't uncommon for those of us in the cancer world and there's actually a term for it: Scan Day . Despite what the name might imply, Scan Day isn't the scan itself that causes ...

Chris Meuleners: happiness, sadness, hope, despair, and places between. Caring for his wife, Amanda, who has been fighting AML Leukemia for over two years. Like the flip of a coin, never knowing if it's heads or tails, and living like it landed on its side. I met Chris on the last Saturday of ...

Tony Peterson: Between Seasons Tony Peterson loves all things outdoors and nothing beats duck hunting in the fall. To him, true beauty is a crisp fall morning, with the sun coming up over the swamp and the geese migrating South, forming patterns across the blue and white sky. He’s preparing for ...

Through the tragedy of a terminal cancer diagnosis, the desperation of multiple failed treatments, the reality of facing their children with the truth of it all, a mission and hope shines through.

It has been 50+ months since my wife's diagnosis with cancer and a lot of things have changed during that time. Yes, there's been a lot of undesired changes that cancer-goers, caregivers, friends and family must traverse on the cancer journey -- but there are also good things that happen as well. ...

On an unusually chilly August morning, 5 brave souls met at the shores of Lake Minnetonka for what it was to be a totally new and exciting experience (as usual as it happens with Jack’s). None of us knew exactly what we were in for but were willing to give it a go. That kind of feeling is very ...