Michelle Long
Board Member
Michelle Long won’t sugar coat it. Her cancer journey was horrendous. She’ll tell you the details if you want to know, but in the end, what she’s really going to tell you is how to live your life while trudging through hell. She found courage in purpose and resilience in empathy for others.
The short story for a long journey started with a lump, a mammogram, and a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis. Two years of treatment. A mastectomy, 18 more chemo rounds, 30 rounds of radiation. Tram flap. Drains. Broken. How did she get through it?
She’d remembered a prayer she said when her children were very young and facing a dangerous health issue. “Let me get through this because my kids need me.” When she got the cancer diagnosis, she thought “Okay, thank you for waiting.” But now her oldest had just given birth prematurely to a 1 pound, 15-ounce baby. Michelle’s first thought was “I’m still needed.” So, she finished her second round of chemo, packed a suitcase, grabbed a barf bag, and drove 4 hours to help. She spent the next four months driving back and forth from chemo to NICU. While doing whatever she could to save her own life, she gave herself fully to caring for her daughter and the new grandbaby.
“I was feeling overwhelmed. Then I spent time at the Ronald McDonald House where I saw so many families fighting childhood cancer, it really put things in perspective. My empathy for them made me realize there was no room for pity in my life.” That’s what motivated her to begin helping others. “I had large social groups through Facebook and would be stunned when I realized someone who seemed to have it all together comforted me with their own cancer story. I would privately send them a port pillow, which someone had gifted me. It was so helpful; I wanted to share that comfort.”
When I posted asking for help with supplies for the port pillows, Rachel Minion reached out. She had already started Beyond Basic Needs, so we joined forces. Michelle is now five years cancer-free, telling other late-stage cancer warriors there is hope, and “I’m proof.”
Her advice for others on this journey? “Listen to your body. If you’re tired, lay down. You don’t have to go to that function or do that thing. If you’re hungry, eat. Don’t worry about the salt, carbs or sugar. If your body is craving it, have it. And when people ask ‘what can I do for you’, tell them. Oh, you can get me a gift card to Bob Evans, or pick me up a new robe, or I could really use a new blanket. Don’t just say “I’m good.” They want to help, so tell them what you’d like.