Reeling and Healing Midwest Blog

I’ll admit, I was intimidated. The idea of spending three days introducing 15 women to the sport of fly fishing was a little much. In addition these women were from different backgrounds, different ages, in different degrees of health and in different stages of a shared disease. And finally, and the piece-de-resistance, I would be one of the only males. What’s a guy to do?

During the preceding weeks, and all the way up until the first participant arrived, I was running scenario after scenario through my head. What do i do in case this happens, or this, or, god forbid, that?! I have taught dozens and dozens of people how to fly fish, often times in groups, but this was a whole new ballgame. As I said, I was intimidated.

So, how did it turn out you may be wondering? In short, it was a very special experience. The biggest part of it was not the fishing. It was being there. Yes, the fishing was fun and the chance to pass along knowledge and experiences to potential new devotees of a sport I love was enjoyable enough alone. The chance to spend some time on a lovely piece of trout water was also great. It all pales in comparison to the people. Those same people whom I spent hours and hours worrying about. How is that for irony?

Of course I did my share of carrying things from here to there, getting water, keeping track of equipment and other sorts of things. All the volunteers did. Those types of tasks are rewarding on their own. But it was being in the water with the participants – that’s where real special things happened. Women who normally have difficulty walking, relishing the river pushing against their legs. Or women who would cast their fly and actually see a trout rise – only to forget to set the hook because they turned to share a smile that a trout was “out there.” I watched their faces light up as the river worked its magic.

Out of the river, listening to them laugh and cry while talking with others, was…educational. Even I blushed a few times overhearing a few things (you know who you are).

I have done as much thinking about that time and those women since as before. Now I run things that happened over and over in my mind and it brings a smile. I am just as anxious as before. Anxious to do it again.

-DGM, Volunteer & River Guide

A great new article has been published talking about Reeling & Healing Midwest and how it helps survivors on their healing journey. Our own Ruthanne T. is quoted.
Read the full article here.

EIGHT HIGHLIGHTS of HEALING

- Healing is a lifelong journey toward wholeness.

- Healing is remembering what has been forgotten about connection, and unity and interdependence among all things living and nonliving.

- Healing is embracing what is most feared.

- Healing is opening what has been closed, softening what has hardened into obstruction.

- Healing is entering into the transcendent, timeless moment when one experiences the divine.

- Healing is creativity and passion and love.

- Healing is seeking and expressing self in its fullness, its light and shadow, its male and female.

- Healing is learning to trust life.

From The Four-Fold Ways

After H&R Block co-founder and lung cancer survivor Richard Bloch was declared cancer-free in 1978, he wanted to reach out and give back to help newly diagnosed survivors and those struggling with their diagnosis. Thus his foundation came alive and he began reaching out to comfort, guide, educate and more.

The foundation’s website is simple and filled with letters and articles from Block, important links for survivors and caregivers and how you can help educate and promote advocacy too. Visit www.blochcancer.org to learn more and perhaps be inspired by Richard’s story and words of positive attitude and walking the road to recovery and beyond.

Well, there she is all over the news, being interviewed and questioned. Elizabeth Edwards. One more woman surviving breast cancer, working hard to take back her life from her first battle, fighting past the underlying fears of ���will it come back again���, even writing a book about the support she has received and her endeavor to help others struggling and surviving cancer.

And there she is now, diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in her bones.

I met Elizabeth last fall at the Lance Armstrong Foundation���s Inaugural Summit on Cancer Survivorship. She was the last speaker to take the stage, share her story, share her inspiration, share her future goals, share how her life had changed for her family and herself, and more.

The portions of her speech I will never forget are those that were peppered with the letters written to her from individuals – cancer survivors and caregivers – whom she had never met. The anonymous writers had reached out to her to share simple thoughts and stories of their journey, acknowledge her courage and hope, to bolster her resolve and encourage her to fight, to share their prayers with her, and most importantly, to let her know that she wasn’t alone on her journey.

Those words produced flashbacks of the women I have met at our retreats – who have journeyed through their battle and survivorship – and not alone. Each of them, on their own terms, found purpose in sharing their stories, sharing their hope and their choices with those they met along the way – on and off the river. Their outreach and comfort prevail onward and are there whenever called forth.

I have lost friends who, having battled their cancer the first time and claiming a triumphant win, were later diagnosed with more havoc within their bodies. These men and women continued on their own way – some by beating the disease once again, some by making the best of their last days, some by subjecting themselves to clinical trials, some by knowing after a span of months or years, that it was time to stop taking the pain killers and the medication – that the disease had become extremely relentless and wasn’t going to loosen its hold – ever. Each has been a hero, an inspiration. Each has been courageous and beautiful. Each is similar to Elizabeth.

Who are we to question what their choices should be? With 3 out of 4 families affected by cancer in our nation, with the possibility of 1 out of 2 men contracting cancer in their lifetime, and 1 out of 3 women contracting it as well, don’t you think they should be making their own decisions and living their life on their own terms?

I applaud Elizabeth for sharing her story and undergoing the scrutiny from the public and media. At times our media seems to be as relentless as cancer. However, the good to come from her telling/sharing her story is that our community is becoming more aware of the havoc that cancer does cause, the good that is being done to prolong life and survivorship, and hopefully it will open new doors, understanding and research so we can rid the world of cancer altogether.

And as I applaud Elizabeth, I applaud all the survivors, caregivers and advocates I know, and have known, who share their stories, reach out to lend a hand, give support to the best of their abilities, and encourage hope and life on their own terms.

Fish On!