A Sister's Grief and Love Inspire Action

A Sister’s Grief and Love Inspire Action

My experience with cancer is a difficult and life-changing one, similar to what many others may have gone through when their life became impacted by this most dreadful of illnesses; yet, it is an experience that has molded and shaped my future in a most positive direction, and for that I have gratitude.

In November of 2006 at the age of twelve, my youngest sister Esther was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I was fifteen, and she was my best friend. I could not fathom a world in which she would no longer be there, a world in which my closest confidante and partner in crime would no longer be sitting in the next room or talking late into the night with me.

Over the next four years, however, Esther became more and more ill, the cancer metastasizing to her lungs despite surgery, experimental chemotherapy, and radioiodine treatments. In August of 2010 my little sister passed away after a four-year battle. She left in her wake a grief-stricken family and a lasting legacy: to love deeply and to never take others for granted.

It took several years for me to move past my grief and to realize that though I had lost someone so close to my heart, I had been given the most amazing gift: the chance to really live, to share my sisters’ message with others, and to love abundantly.

I will always remember my little sister as she was before she became ill, her hair dirty blonde and her face full of freckles, her laughter bubbling and spilling over and so contagious that I smile thinking of it now. Her death has only made me more relentless in my pursuit to live fully and to embrace all that life has to offer.

I now study Sustainable Business and Agriculture at Green Mountain College in Vermont, my passion for environmentalism and sustainability prevalent in all that I do. I have a desire to educate and nurture others, to supply individuals with the necessary tools to become more aware of what and how we consume both products and food, and to promote ways in which we as individuals can live our lives to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for the next generations.

Currently I am the Outreach and Events Senior Intern with the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition (MBCC), a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing environmental causes of breast cancer.

No matter the type of cancer a loved one of yours may have had or currently struggles with, whether they were taken before their time or are now in remission, I urge you to consider the unique and necessary approach the MBCC is taking towards cancer, and to the future of cancer prevention. I also urge you to consider becoming more involved with the MBCC, either through making a donation or through participation.

This summer the MBCC is hosting their annual Against the Tide fundraiser on two separate occasions: June 20th in Hopkinton, MA and August 15th in Brewster, MA. These family-friendly events bring athletes of all levels and ages together for one common cause - the prevention of the environmental causes of breast cancer.

Please consider my story, and make a pledge on my Against the Tide fundraising page: TeamEvangelineEarl