People often ask us: “I don’t want to be an fundraising athlete, but is there anything else I can do to help your cause?”   Of course!  We recognize that not everybody wants to be a fundraising athlete, and we know Endure to Cure and pediatric cancer may not interest everyone.  However, there are many ways we can contribute our unique talents and abilities to help make a positive difference in whatever cause you choose to be involved.  Today we would like to introduce a friend of Endure to Cure, Mel Majoros, to share her passion for being “The Cancer Warrior” and explain why you do not need to run, swim, bike, hike, or climb to contribute to a cause greater than oneself.

Mel Majoros is a breast cancer survivor who recently celebrated 3 years of being cancer free.  She is the host of The Cancer Warrior on Empoweradio.com.  Her blog has been named a top ten breast cancer blog by blogs.com and licensedpracticalnurse.com in addition to being named a top 30 inspirational cancer survivor blogs by mritechnicianschools.org. She can be contacted via email at thecancerwarrior@gmail.com or on her website http://www.thecancerwarrior.net/.  So without further ado, let’s hear how and why Mel became a cancer warrior.

Being a Cancer Warrior–By Mel Majoros

I don’t consider myself an athlete.  I am in pretty good shape. I do pilates,  I go to the gym, I bike, I play sports, hockey mostly.  I don’t run.  Knees can’t take it.  I know my limits when it comes to my body.  Cancer taught me that unfortunately.

I was in the best shape of my life when I was diagnosed on September 18, 2007.  I worked out hard to play hockey, I was captain of the women’s team.  “It’s cancer” are two words I thought I would never hear.  I was young when I was diagnosed.  Young for having breast cancer anyway.  The doctor who did my biopsy said he had been doing this for 20 years and he was only surprised by a handful of diagnosis and mine was one of them.  Haha.  Great.

I did the whole gamut, surgery, 16 rounds of chemo, a year of herceptin, 16 rounds of radiation.  Side effects beat the hell out of me, but through it all I maintained a positive mental attitude, and all my docs said that I wouldn’t have made it through all that as well as I did if I hadn’t have been working out.

When I was recouperating from surgery I was offered a job as a producer at the radio station I work at.  Easy gig.  Sit there push buttons.  Not too taxing for someone who just had major surgery.  The producer who was there before me never spoke on air.  Put a microphone in front of me and well if you know me you see where this goes.  The host Vic McCarty and I had instant on air chemistry.  A rarity in this business.

Because of my work at the radio station I also was able to produce shows for Empower Radio, and eventually I was asked to host my own show The Cancer Warrior on Empoweradio.com.  At first I was nervous about hosting my own show, but I knew that there are survivors and organizations out there whose stories need to be told.  My podcast isn’t about me, it never was, its about all the survivors and organizations I have had on there and will have on.

I am at peace with the fact that some people can do more than I can as far as athletic events go.  There is more that I can do with my words than with a race.

Now I know that when people read this blog post and if they know me even a little bit they will say that I do a lot for the cause.  My friends have called me a tireless advocate and I am, admittedly so.  Between writing, the radio show, and other projects that I do as The Cancer Warrior, I have little time for anything else.

So the next time there is a run or a marathon for charity you just may see me there.  Cheering on the sidelines.