Life BEYOND Breast Cancer
Honoring Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients & their Families
Introducing Life BEYOND Breast Cancer It took me all day to find the words to introduce a new section on our website called Life BEYOND Breast Cancer. It isn’t easy to look at the hardest part about “living” with this disease in the face, but as advocates and friends,...
Poetry: Sinner and Saint
Someone since has sinned - Who’s a saint, Who’s a sane man. Shouting profanities at his misfortune Jesting, crossing himself in a bathhouse. He’s Jewish. Someone crosses a street Seriously contemplating sinning Coming home, shirt thrown sloppy to the side Hitting a...
Poetry: The Veil
I am a veil, A sheath of newness and despair, A film of shadow and of light, A cover not quite there. I fasten readily to hair, To hats of wool and crowns of gold. I dress the plain, adorn the rich, Praise youth and hide the old. And whether it is warm or cold I'm...
Poetry: How Long Will I Run?
‘Til tide’s edge touches sand Or beyond it, ankle-deep? Will it roll in Or ebb out? Will it slap me Or dupe me, send me chasing it? And the current – Will I feebly float or will my feet be knocked from under me? Under me. Down…under water, Out to sea… How long will I...
Poetry: Pocketful of Glass
Stuck my hand into A pocketful of glass Smoothed by the sand Dulled by the sea. They fail to understand How I withdraw my hand Unharmed. They stare in alarm, Concerned, as if I'd been maimed, Or burned. I wonder the same, Unimpressed, and recall that Sharp shards of...
It’s Been Five Months
It's now five months since the loss of our MaryAnne DiCanto. Missing you every moment my darling. Five months without you baby and still stuck. As promised, I'm trying to get better. But I don't know what better should feel like. Books on the subject suck and...
Four Months Since We Parted My Darling
A message for you my darling MaryAnne DiCanto Four months since we parted, my darling. I'm still here as you know; heart sick, broken, and madly in love with you. It's not just your memory I hang on to; I cling to your presence. That flicker of certainty that you are...
Happy 60th Birthday from Here My Darling MaryAnn
Today, July 28, is our beloved MaryAnne DiCanto's 60th Birthday. Each year on this day we made our one and only goal for the year - to get to the next birthday. There was always a creative cake, like the one last year made out of her favorite donuts. There were always...
Two months now since she passed, yet she is all around me
Two months have passed since the loss of our beloved MaryAnne DiCanto. In the midst of packing mayhem, I pause to pay tribute to my darling. Such a troubling experience. Packing the house feels like the unraveling our life together. One moment chuckling over a silly...
It’s Been Two Weeks
Written by Scott DeCanto Two weeks to the moment since we lost our MaryAnne DiCanto. The pain remains agonizing and fresh, as if it just happened. I wish I had a better answer to the question of how I'm doing. I wish I could soldier-up and suck it up. I can with all...
These Days
Here is a better explanation of what is going on. Another MaryAnne DiCanto poem of sorts. Sorry everyone, turns out this is my best way of expressing the loss. These Days These days I go to bed to the sound of the birds waking up. Those hours just before sunrise when...
What They Fear
This article was originally published on Medium. Re-published with permission from the author. They swarmed towards me and then past me, a pink vortex of t-shirts, feather boas and every tacky accessory imaginable. And characters: a pink-clad Minnie Mouse posing for...
Love, Loss, and What I Won’t Wear to My Funeral
Originally posted on Liya Khenkin blog, posted with permission from Liya's husband, Alexander. The first funeral I attended after being diagnosed last year with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, was that of my husband’s grandmother. I was 30 years old. She died at 87...
A Dedication: Operating Room Kisses
Dedicated to Alexander Khenkin and his wife Liya, who has been battling stage 4 breast cancer and is undergoing a procedure tomorrow. Our thoughts are with you as you get through another tough day. Alexander wrote us: I love what you are doing and your images are...