This is a draft post written by Shannon and posted by her mom- Gretchen.

My days now are generally near-bliss with my work-life balance & hanging-with-Emmie time and sheer NORMALNESS, but they are tinged with the gray cancer seems to keep bringing into my life. Some cancer-things don’t send me plunging into sadness (like when a friend is diagnosed… I’m mostly glad I can be there to support her in the worst time of her life). But other things, random, little things like a blog I stumble across, those can send me reeling faster than I ever expected, and then I quickly run away and never click again.

I think the level to which I’m affected depends largely on how similar the story is to mine, and (obviously) how it turns out. Different kind of cancer? I got your back. My same story, three years up the road, and it comes back? I’m just not strong enough