cancer

Breast Cancer January Twenty

January 20, 2024 KimHarms

8 years ago today I was diagnosed with breast cancer. 1 year ago today, I had to call Corey at work (in the middle of what is arguably the most awful project he’s been involved in during his 20+ years with his employer) and say, “I found a lump in my armpit, and Dr. Harishand wants me to come in today.’” We all know how that turned out. This world and this body of mine just suck sometimes. But I still believe God is good. No one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. He never promised that ugly…

Uncategorized Breast Cancer Take Two

February 9, 2023 KimHarms 3Comment

Since finding a lump in my armpit on the eve of the 7th anniversary of my first breast cancer diagnosis, my life has been moving in both high speed and slow motion. Appointments, ultrasounds, biopsies, tests, scans, x-rays. . . And in between all those things, the waiting and waiting for phone calls with answers to questions I don’t even want to be in a position to be asking. The waiting is awful, so awful in so many ways. But there is a strange beauty in it too. The heaviness pushes me to my knees because I literally have no…

Breast Cancer Of Cancer and Little Boys

January 20, 2021 KimHarms 2Comment

Up the ladder On the loft She snuggles in with her boy Her hand on his small back Memorizing the little bumps of his spine That mole on his shoulder The silk of his hair Scratching his back until his rhythmic breath Informs her of sleep. There is only this moment. Only she and her little boy. The one God gave her out of heartache. The beauty born out of the ashes. And she is wholly unable to remove herself from this beauty Motionless she fears when he wakes He will be compelled to witness the slow fade of his…

Breast Cancer Remembering Jodi 1969-2019

August 19, 2019 KimHarms 7Comment

“It just seems so unnatural.” Judy Anderson reflected on back-to-college shopping with her granddaughters. Annelisa will be a senior majoring in meteorology at St. Cloud State and Kylie a sophomore in elementary education at the Minnesota State University, Mankato. The girls lost their mom Jodi (Judy’s only daughter) on May 30 after a three year battle with breast cancer. Of course, Judy’s statement is something any mom in her situation might say. We’re not supposed to lose our children. It’s not the natural order of things. But real life doesn’t always go according to plan. Jodi was diagnosed with breast…

Breast Cancer Cancer Gave Me The Gift of Knowing Human Frailty

May 22, 2018 KimHarms 4Comment

I was 40 and already had a head of prematurely gray hair (I hide it well) when Dr. Testroet called with the crappy cancer news, but the following words from Jen Wilkin’s 27-year-old experience ring true inside of me. Once you hear a cancer diagnosis, you can’t unhear it. Even with successful treatment, it changes the way you number your days. I had been given an opportunity not many 27-year-olds could claim: the opportunity to count each of my days as precious. Any illusions I might have had that this life would last forever were effectively removed. I learned a…