Everything happens for a reason.

This is a cliché that has been perpetuated for centuries. Humans, for one reason or another constantly attach meaning to symbols and situations in order to make sense of life. Why? I don’t know. I will leave that for the sociologists and psychologists to determine. All I know is that I too am a perpetuator of this train of thought.

Yesterday a friend of mine from high school held an event to raise money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and the upcoming Light the Night walk. It is an event that I will be participating in for the first time on October 3^rd. It was held at a local bar where all the money raised went to sponsor the walkers on my team. All funds go to scientific research, informational pamphlets for patients, transportation for patients who cannot afford the cost by themselves, and funding for those who cannot afford bone marrow biopsies/transplants, and so forth.

Outside of the bar, my family also held a bake sale. Those that were walking by but could not come into the bar were able to donate from the outside. For the majority of the day I stayed inside playing hostess to the guests that came out in support of me. Sitting near the bar looking out through the window, I kept an eye on the table set up outside to see how they were doing and if there were people coming to the table. I only went outside once. There were two younger women buying the cookies and cupcakes at the table. They looked no different from anyone else walking around my Williamsburg neighborhood. I don’t know why I went outside when I did. I don’t know why, at that moment, I felt the need to put my face to the cause they were donating to BUT I did. Call it fate, God, Karma, chance, or whatever you want to call it but it happened for a reason.

When I approached the table, one of the women asked why we were doing the fundraiser. I answered there question and said: “Were raising money because this past year I was diagnosed and underwent treatment for AML, a form of leukemia, and LLS (Leukemia Lymphoma Society) was there to educate and support me in any way I needed. One hundred percent of the funds raised goes directly to securing a happier healthier future for people like me.” The woman on the left said that her grandmother passed away from leukemia a few years ago. The other said she had a friend that is recovering from a bone marrow transplant at Sloan Kettering (the hospital that I attend) and also writes for the New York Times.

Me: “Oh My Gosh. Are you kidding me? She is the reason I started blogging and finally created a Twitter. She is one of my sources of inspiration.”

Woman One: “Give me your contact info and I will be more than happy to pass it onto her. She’ll be happy to hear this.”

Me: “That would be amazing. Thank you so much. I hope she is doing well. Thank you for supporting her through me. It really is an honor. She is lucky to have such a good friend.”

Woman One and Two: “Thank you too”

 

And off they walked, arms linked around each other, visibly sobbing. Now this is just speculation but I don’t think it was a sad sort of cry. The writer and fellow member of the cancer club is named Suleika Jaouad. You can read her New York Times blog here: Life, Interrupted. Her journey is different from mine. Same cancer. Same age. A mere seven months separate our diagnosis date. We are both writers. Same hospitals. Same doctors. We are going down completely different life and wellness paths. We have completely different endpoints. I think her friends that stumbled upon my little table full of cupcakes and cookies saw me as a sign of hope. I am not someone who has passed from complications due to leukemia (at least not yet and hopefully not ever). I am not recovering from a bone marrow biopsy. I am a face on the outside just as much as I am a face on the inside of the disease.  It was inspiration to them just as much as Suleika is an inspiration to me.

 

I don’t expect to hear from her. I know first-hand how difficult managing life becomes when you have cancer. Prioritizing relationships becomes a necessity. Adding new friends, even well-meaning ones, grows exasperating. But it was nice, for a moment, to feel like the world made sense.

 

Something out there pulled them to the table and me to them. I’m not sure if it was a shift in the universe, a wrong turn down a random block in Williamsburg, or a higher purpose forcing us together but it is a moment that really, really means a lot to me.

 

If you want to learn more about LLS, click here.

If you want to donate to my team or come out and walk with us on October 3^rd and help raise blood cancer awareness, click here,

 

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion but hey, everything happens for a reason  =).

 

The amazing cookies my sister made and my family helped sell. Love them so so so SO much.