I received the “strength” key this past winter, from one of my best friends who has such a beautiful heart and it couldn’t have come at a better time as my mom was in palliative care fighting the battle of cancer in her last few days. Strength is exactly what I needed during this time to survive one of the most difficult times in my life. In January 2016, she went to be with the Lord after the fighting the battle of stage 4 tongue cancer. I was absolutely devastated and there’s really no words for losing a mother, especially when she still had so many years left.
In the last month I met this girl at work and almost immediately we connected in a special way. She shared that she was diagnosed with the cancer gene and has as strong family history of breast cancer. At 21, she had gone through a double mastectomy. She expressed that this was “one of the hardest things she’s had to face in her life.” For me, losing my mom was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to face, so it was placed on my heart to pass this key forward after her recent surgery as I could sense she needed strength.
I am encouraged by her story to help inspire other women to get proactive about their health and tested for BRCA1. By passing this key forward, it not only helped with my healing process but I got to pass on the strength that was given to me during such a difficult time.
Cancer is not an easy thing to deal with and support during this time is so crucial. I’ve witnessed it first hand. I could’ve held onto this key for a lot longer, I thought initially, but then I thought about how many lives would miss out on being blessed by this gift, had I kept it to myself.
I believe God puts people in your path at just the right time, and there’s always a purpose for it. It feels good to be able to “pay it forward” and I will carry that inner strength forward in whatever life throws at me.
Grateful to share this story with many more people, and because of this key I was able to do that.
-Nicole
