There are moments when life forces us to pause, not because we choose to, but because we must. Over the past months, I’ve crossed paths with some remarkable young people: bright minds, entrepreneurs, parents and each of them full of life, ambition, and purpose. And each of them now faces the unimaginable: a cancer diagnosis.
Their lives, once driven by meetings, ideas, laughter, and plans, are now suddenly measured in treatments, test results, and moments of uncertainty. But what strikes me most is not the fear or sadness, though those are certainly there, it’s the strength. The grace.
Honesty.
One of them, a brilliant woman, just shared that she wrote a book that will be published after the summer. She said, "It’s a story I never wanted to write, but unfortunately this story found me." That sentence hasn’t left me since. Because how many of us truly prepare for a story we never wanted to tell?
And yet, in the telling, there is power. There is a connection. There is truth. These stories, however heavy, invite us to rethink what matters. They show us that being vulnerable does not mean being weak. They remind us that time is not a given. And they call on us to live more fully, more consciously, more compassionately.
Illness does not define these people. But their courage in facing it says everything about who they are. They are still creating, still parenting, still dreaming, still fighting. And in doing so, they are teaching the rest of us what resilience truly looks like.
So this blog is for them. For the stories they never asked to tell, but tell anyway. For the truths that found them, and for the strength they give the rest of us to face our own.
Let’s not wait to pause. Let’s not wait to care. Let’s not wait to live.
