Seeing Erin Kramp again

Yesterday, September 7, marked 11 years since my sister passed away.

Last night on Oprah, I again saw another remarkable woman who battled this disease and lost. Erin Kramp was 36 when she passed away. She left behind hundreds of tapes in which she spoke to her then six-year-old daughter. All the subjects she wanted to talk to her about, but wouldn’t be there in person to do. From how to wear make up to finding a husband, she spoke about everything she could think of.

Her daughter has grown up and was on the show talking about the tapes.

Only once during the tapes Erin was seen crying. In her last message, she spoke to everyone who supported her. She also said that she wants to be remembered. Live every moment in urgency, she said.

With this blog, I have my ups and downs. There are days when I wonder whether this is enough. There are days when I know I don’t have the courage to do more, so I stick to my words and use them to make people aware.

As in everything, awareness is the key to the fight. If one is aware, one is prepared for the battle.

I still dread the reactions I get when I wear the pink ribbon through October. I always I assume there is so much being written and talked about through the media about breast cancer, that people know about it. And every year I am proved wrong with the reactions to the pink ribbon. That’s when I know many people still have to be made aware.

On the surface it looks simple. I just have to blog. But to me it’s not just a post each time. To me it’s reliving many painful moments even if it’s something like choosing a subject. It’s painful and scary to continue to read about cancer, especially breast cancer. All day yesterday I thought about my sister. None of my friends remember the date. I didn’t talk to anyone about her. But then, seeing Erin again on the date she passed away, makes me take something like that as a sign and go on. Experiences like those make me want to go on with whatever I am doing. Be it just using words.

May be someone somewhere will benefit through my words here. I have to write for that person.