Dear WOWs - Please listen to the following interview and then read the message from this extraordinary woman.
As I listened to the interview, I thought of one very important point that I wanted to share with you. In the three years leading up to my diagnosis, I was repeatedly ignored and marginalized by my doctors. I feel there are two reasons for this: I am a woman, and I was overweight. As a woman, the automatic assumption was that I was over-dramatizing my symptoms, hence the doctor’s command to “Stop it” when I couldn’t control my coughing. And as an overweight woman, everyone, including myself, thought this was my fault. If I would just exercise, if I just exerted the willpower to lose weight, I would be fine. I didn’t advocate for myself because in the back of my mind, I thought this was what I deserved. It wasn’t until it was crystal clear that something was very wrong, that I finally stood up and took control. Now, as an older woman, self-advocacy is essential. It’s up to me to make sure I am never ignored again. My life, and yours, literally depends on it.
Thank you for sharing this with us. What an inspiration you are. And you probably don't know it, but I followed your blog years ago, and was just as inspired then! A few things that really stuck were - When you heard that you had a 50/50% chance of living beyond 3 years, you looked at it in a positive light - you had 50% chance of surviving! That would not have been my reaction. When you said people who face overwhelming adversity often say, "Why me". Your view is that life is random, so why not me? And finally, when you pointed out that we only have so much energy, so let go of everything that is trivial and that you can do nothing about. Thank you again, Lori. I will remember your wisdom. Love, The other Lori