Quiet Angel Publishing Blog

The Traveling Book

Port Jefferson, New York

Joan & Mae

As I mentioned, at the conference I met some amazing people and one of them was Joan Perrin.  Joan was amazing!  Fun, funny, interesting and a twin!  Joan and her twin Mae along with the rest of their family has been touched by cancer and the BRCA Gene.  Joan and Mae have celebrated their 60th Birthday and are blessed by this fact as it was a bit of a road to get there.  Twelve years ago Joan was diagnosed with Stage 3 Peritoneal/Ovarian Cancer, she then found out that her cousin was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer and other cousins had been diagnosed and were positive for the BRCA gene.  Shortly after finding out this information Joan and Mae were tested, both positive,  and just a short year later Mae was diagnosed with Peritoneal Cancer.  As if this wasn’t enough in 2005 Joan was diagnosed with breast cancer, followed shortly by her twin Mae.  Through all of this Joan was incredibly positive and just a joy to meet and I would like you to hear for yourself just how positive she is:

“This past July, my twin and I turned 60, a wonderful milestone considering our medical history.  We became involved with FORCE, an organization for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer.  This past June we attended our second FORCE Conference, where I had the pleasure of attending a session led by Regina Savage. I shared with her my dream of publishing an anthology of humorous poems that I wrote as my way of coping with my cancer and chemo.  We both agreed that laughter is the best way to deal with it.  Mae and I were happy to sign the Traveling Book, and send it on it’s way”.

What amazing women!!  To stand tall in the face of defeat and survive is truly amazing, to stand tall and keep your positive, upbeat attitude and above all humor intact is truly inspirational!  Again, my hats off and truly my honor to meet such amazing women!  My heart is truly inspired and has lead me to the months following the conference to help move the book forward, to speak more and to do what I can to help and participate in paying it forward!

Before I end my story about Joan and Mae, I want to pay tribute to their cousin Lana.  I did not have the opportunity to meet Lana, but Joan has some amazing words that although Lana was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer 12 years ago was a constant bright light to Joan.  Sadly as Joan and I last spoke, Lana was not doing well and had been moved into hospice here are Joan’s words:

“Lana is the strongest, bravest gal I know.  Her support was vital to my recovery.  I am hoping that she will be strong enough for Mae and me to visit.  I am heart sick about losing her. Lana told me, “Don’t say that I lost my battle with cancer, because I really won.  I had 12 years, that the Doctor’s said I wouldn’t have.  I saw my daughter get married, and I became the grandma to three beautiful grandchildren.”  See what I mean about how inspiring she is”.

I love doing the stories of the Traveling Book, I love speaking to survivors and giving what little wisdom I can to help, but cancer is not always positive, not always a winning story and never easy to deal with.  Cancer is a disease that in the last several years has touched us all whether it be a friend, a co-worker, a family member, a loved one, a wife, sister, mother, daughter, brother, husband, partner or son and with this knowledge we are sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, but hopefully always there for others! As for today and this story, we can learn from the strength these women have to see the positive at the end of the tunnel to stand together and to be grateful for the time we have, something we can all learn from and hopefully live by!

Two more items…..

Christmas Book Donation

The Christmas Book Donation is about to begin!  I am excited to host the 2nd Annual Christmas Book Donation Program where books can be purchased and $5 from each purchase will be donated to a charity of your choice and the book will be signed, gift wrapped and delivered to hospitals all over the US.  This year I will not only donate to a cancer charity which is FORCE that you just read about, but I will also donate to a community program that is a non-profit based in the UK named BigPinkHeart, we are currently working together to start their wonderful community programs over here, but also The Fisher House which is an amazing organization that helps families of our injured military be able to stay close to the hospital for free in order to be with their loved ones.  I wanted to do three charities as I believe cancer survivors will benefit from the book when they receive it so they are being helped along with FORCE.  Our community and our children always need help to promote positive attitudes, manners and respect such as BigPinkHeart’s Mission.  And we all need to be proud of our military for fighting for our country and our lives and deserve, if they are injured, to have their families with them during this time. So stayed tuned as the information will go out shortly.

Next…

Quiet Angel Publishing, LLC has BIG News!

We are now publishing books!  QAP is now working on three inspirational books from the US and a series of children’s books in the UK!  And you will want to  stay tuned for this as there is lots of exciting news that I will be telling you about shortly!!  So keep posted!!

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