From Kayelle Allen:This week on Romance Lives Forever I’m sharing
stories by authors who have faced cancer either in themselves, or a family member.
The importance of friends and family, and having a support system is vital. One
key to success is being able to ask for help — and then being willing to accept
it. It’s a lesson I’ve had in my own life during various times. I don’t accept help
well. It’s something I fight with all the time. I’d like to think “I’ve got
this” but sometimes I don’t have as good a grip as I thought I did. I have
a friend who’s dealing with cancer right now. A friend’s brother died from cancer
last year. Cancer affects all of us. I hope I’m even half as good a friend as those
you’ll read about in this series.

I’m presenting these posts as an opportunity for the authors
to share their real life stories, as well as their fictional ones. There’s a short
list of ways you can show your support at the end of each post.

Undefined and vulnerable, I often
felt as if I were crashing backward through space, and found myself slipping into
a post-operative depression after my bi-lateral mastectomy on August 2, 2001. In
order to keep what remained of my sanity, I returned to work too soon, but misjudged
the level of my stamina, as well as the fact that much of one’s life is uncontrollable.

My first day back at work: September
10, 2001.

How could I, as well as thousands
of others know that the next day, September 11, 2001, evil men with twisted minds
had marked my city, New York, as a site for mass destruction, and would take perverse
delight in their slaughter of innocents. In seconds, a still autumn sky would become
animated with flames and smoke, choking the air with the sickening smell of lives
dissolved.

My response to the news of the first
tower being hit was one of disbelief. After the second plane crashed into the second
tower, I knew my city was under attack. My first thoughts were for the safety of
my own family. Desperate to know if my son and daughter-in-law were safe, and only
after seeing them both later that day, could I believe that they were indeed out
of harm’s way.

The relief in being alive was tempered
by the overwhelming loss of so many in a matter of minutes. Like countless others,
I watched television, transfixed by its unrelenting coverage of our nation’s greatest
catastrophe. So many had survived personal tragedy only to be brought down, the
victims of time and place. Humbled by a world gone mad, I offered my prayers for
the souls and families of those who’d perished. In an instant, I’d become an insignificant
speck and found it difficult to justify space for my personal trials.

While struggling to make sense out
that which made no sense at all, I made an effort to accept that each step of my
own unpredictable journey was a sign for me to live my life responsibly. I believed
that I’d been given a chance to redefine my soul and thereby grant myself a sanctuary
from the world in which I had come to dwell.

For me, as for many of us, each step
forward was painful to take, but the need to move forward was far greater than the
pull to go backward. Unless I accepted that my life had been deeply altered, I could
remain trapped, frozen in a world of memories.

In truth, I’d been granted the opportunity
to redirect and renew my faith in myself and in my ability to move to a level of
profound and urgent awareness of the potential richness of my life. Cancer had attacked
my body and challenged me in my entirety to face my life as it was and to decide
whether I would choose to self immolate or rise again like a Phoenix.

Marjorie is diagnosed with breast cancer immediately after
her most joyous day, the wedding of her son Matthew. A month after undergoing a
bilateral mastectomy, on her second day back as an early childhood teacher in
Brooklyn, the world is enveloped by 9/11. As she continues to mend, she
discovers that Matthew has enlisted in the Armed Forces and is to be deployed
for six months to the Persian Gulf. She has chronicled it all so that others
can grasp the joy of survival through her story.Discover and delight in her
experiences: how she overcame the apprehension about her sexuality after a
bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction; how she let her family back in; how
the man in her life coped; how trips to Atlantic City became therapy; how
friends helped her search for the perfect breast implant design; and how she
learned to sleep without Ambien and Vodka.

Marjorie Belson is a quintessential New Yorker. Born in New
York City in 1945, she received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees
from the City University of New York. As a single mother, she chose to teach
early childhood education rather than work on Wall Street.

Motivated by her experience, she started writing this book
in 2004.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NothingIsPromisedbook

Ways you can show your support

Share this post on social media

Follow the author on Twitter, Facebook, or other sites where
you’re active

Encourage the author by sharing what they share

Purchase the author’s books

Review the author’s books

Leave a comment on the blog

Thank you for being part of the Romance Lives Forever community.