A few days ago, I received a comment from a reader who asked me to drop him a line so he could ask me a question. Immediately, my thought was “If he wanted to ask me something, why not just ask it in comments? This is probably phishing.” Later in the day, I couldn’t shake the thought, though, that maybe it wasn’t a scam… so I googled his name. Tons of stuff came up about his wife’s courageous fight against Mesothelioma.
Cam’s question to me was simple: would I be willing to share a short video about his wife’s story with my readers? And the answer was, “Absolutely. Good stories need more air time in our lives.”
“Don’t take a death sentence as a diagnosis.” when Heather said this, it immediately made me think of my grandmother, Gilda, who passed away when I was 16.
Grandma was diagnosed with leukemia when I was 4. She was told that she had 6 months to live – tops. Instead, she lived another 144 months. For 12 years, she refused to give up or believe that the disease was a death sentence. She joined trials for new medications, took good care of herself, worked with the best doctors available to her, and she even managed to keep the disease a secret from almost everybody. (Though, truly, I was very angry when I found out that she had denied us the opportunity to be compassionate to her. She didn’t want anyone to see her differently. With MS, I understand her point of view much better now.)
In It For The Parking 
Hey Rae,
What an amazing woman and an amazing story. I am guessing that they wouldn’t mind, but feel like I should ask, as i would LOVE to share this video with my readers as well. How do I get in touch with Cam?
On a completely separate note, I noticed that on your side bar it says that I am one of 638 followers to your blog. My blog is a wordpress as well but I have NO idea how I find out how many people have requested to follow. I know that I receive and email notification (which I follow up with a thank you for following) but I don’t know how many emails I have responded to. I can view my stats (views) but the following part isn’t something I have figured out how to track.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Cheers!
Meg
bbhwithms.com
Hi Meg! Thanks for writing. You can contact Heather through her blog at http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather
I’m not sure whether or not Cam would want me to post his email address here, but I have your email address since you posted a comment. I will email him and let him know about your interest. I’m sure he’ll write you back!
As for the reader count, I’m pretty sure it just adds the number of friends I have on FB and contacts on Twitter to come up with the number, since I use the publishing tool that comes with WordPress.
I look forward to checking out your blog too. I hope you’re having a great day!
-Rae
Great video! Heather had such courage and Cam was so supportive. I am thrilled that they have a happy life together. I truly believe that having a positive outlook can make a huge difference. Thank you for sharing Heather’s story.