Six Years Cancer-Free: A September 3rd Celebration

Today is September 3rd, and this date will forever hold deep meaning for me.

On September 3rd, 2019, I walked myself into a life-saving surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital. A brilliant team of surgeons spent hours quite literally giving me back my life. And here I am, six years later, cancer-free and overflowing with gratitude.

What some may not know is that I had been diagnosed months earlier during a long, four-hour surgery on March 19th, 2019. I lived those next five months in the hardest kind of waiting game, holding my breath, summoning courage I didn't even know I had. Anyone who has ever heard the words "you have cancer" knows what it means to reach into places inside yourself you didn't know existed, to draw on strength that shows up because it has to.

And then September 3rd arrived. That date became my miracle.

Today, I celebrate life. I celebrate the doctors and nurses whose skill and compassion carried me. I celebrate my family, friends, and the countless acts of kindness that poured in - sometimes from people I barely knew but who lifted me anyway. I celebrate my inner strength, the resilience that whispered, "You can do this, Lizzie," when everything felt terrifying and uncertain.

Most of all, I celebrate milestones - not just mine, but yours too. Because if you've ever faced a diagnosis, a scare, a heartbreak, a setback, or an obstacle you thought might break you, then you know: when you come out the other side, it is worth celebrating.

So today, six years cancer-free, I raise a glass to life. To resilience. To gratitude. To hope. To love. And to the sheer miracle of getting another shot at this beautiful, messy, wonderful thing we call living.

Happy September 3rd.

Love,
Lizzie 💗

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