After several months of light box therapy, I was left with a bronze glow to my skin. Ironically, a stranger once commented that I looked like I had just returned from a tropical vacation. My emotions would change just as frequently as therapies did, and as time progressed my indolent cancer transformed into something enormous requiring more aggressive and invasive treatments. I was not exempt from the rigors of chemotherapy, radiation and a stem cell transplant.

And, during the midst of one of my most aggressive treatments, my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer. Only 15 months after being diagnosed, he succumbed to his disease. He had always been the healthy one, and had cared for me during my time of need.

On to my “AHA!” moment… Following his death, I struggled emotionally with my reason for having survived, despite all the years of being sick. I needed to find purpose, something that I felt passionate about. I needed to have something to dive into. In my quest, I decided to finish writing a book that I had started several years earlier. I knew this would be my moment…my “AHA!” moment!

Turned out, it was. After all of my struggles, I found HOPE. And in the spring of 2013, I discovered the Cancer Hope Network at a cancer survivorship conference and decided to become a volunteer. I found great comfort in knowing that I’m helping to pay it forward and in giving someone hope during a scary, unpredictable time in their life. That same summer, my book His Mercy Endureth that chronicles my journey with CTCL and other life changing events was published. All of these small miracles were finally coming together, and following my book’s publication, I started receiving phone calls from various groups to speak with others about hope. That is when I knew…helping to give HOPE is my mission.

~ Donna Hussey ~

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We do not endorse any practice / product or make any medical claims – the information above is a personal story that others may find informative.