“What is love? Gratitude. What is hidden in our chests? Laughter. What else? Compassion.” – Rumi I have profound gratitude for the presence of one teacher in my life. Her name is Ki Ki Gore. She was the daughter of Greek immigrants. She was my high school Spanish teacher. I attended three high schools over … Read more
Do you like to volunteer? I’ve noticed that I tend to make close friendships with people who enjoy volunteering. I was assessing my current volunteering efforts, and I realized that one of my current all-time favorite volunteering efforts is with Personal Ink, P.ink Tattoo Day MSP. Personal Ink is a program of FCancer (let’sFcancer) that … Read more
On Sunday, October 14, 2018, 14 women who all had mastectomies as part of their breast cancer treatments, got a complimentary tattoo over her scars as part of the Minneapolis – Saint Paul P.ink Tattoo Day. P.ink, pronounced pea ink, stands for Personal Ink. P.ink is an organization that is 100% volunteer run, and here … Read more
Eight years ago this month, I found out I had breast cancer for a second time. In August of 2010, I had the cancer infested breast cut off. I tend to be a minimalist, so I only had the one breast removed. I don’t have any genes that say I’m at genetic risk for breast … Read more
Every once in a while I write about my breast cancer experience and the scar on my chest. Because I live day in and day out with type 1 diabetes, which consumes my attention, it’s easy for me to forget that I survived two grueling rounds of cancer. Then I look in the mirror and … Read more
You all know that I have been living with diabetes for 37 years and that much of my life and drive to keep up with endurance training is because my diabetes management is exponentially better when I regularly exercise. (oh yes, turns out that’s true for most of us, diabetes or not!) I don’t talk … Read more
After living with diabetes for 36.5 years and after surviving breast cancer twice, I’ve come to prioritize self-care. What is self-care you ask? Well, in my world it means that I pay attention to the basic things I need to stay healthy, fit, calm, centered and productive. It means that I make it my Number … Read more
Note from Mari: This is a blog post written by Michelle Scharber Banks. Michelle was a volunteer at P.ink Day MSP 2015 and again for 2016. In addition, she got her transformative, healing tattoo this year. Here is Michelle’s beautiful story & a poem she wrote, in her own words: After the Tattoo I’ve been … Read more
Breathe deep. Plant my feet firmly on this beautiful Earth. Feel my heart open. Allow grief, loss, relief, gratitude, to one by one wash through my being. Today, October 20th, marks the 12th anniversary of my first breast cancer diagnosis. I am still alive. I am healthier than I have perhaps ever been. My attitude … Read more
No two ways about it, breast cancer, and all cancer, sucks. It interrupts life in a big way. It causes anxiety, fear and trauma, to name just a few of the difficult emotions. Cancer hit me twice, and both times it knocked me flat on my face. I cried harder than I have ever cried and it made me very angry. Both times, I found I had to reach deep inside myself to find strength to carry on. Both times I had to look hard to find a silver lining.