Breast Cancer Young Survivor Conference - Why I Attended

Earlier this year in March, I traveled across the country from Oakland, CA to Jacksonville, FL to spend the weekend with 800 inspiring women that I can call peers. The 2008 Young Survivor Conference (8th annual) was held in Jacksonville, and it was amazing. New information for next year's conference, officially known as the Annual Conference for Women Affected by Breast Cancer, is now up. The 9th annual Young Survivor Conference will take place in Dallas in late February, 2009.

I went to this conference to celebrate my breast cancer survivorship.  When I became a survivor (the day I was diagnosed with breast cancer), I joined a new club with new friends, new goals and new passions.  Some days you want to pretend you are like anyone else but it is hard to forget you had cancer.  So rather than forget, I prefer to celebrate, and what better way to celebrate than with 800 women who really understand?

My video interview with MyBreastCancerNetwork.com, filmed while I was at the Young Survivor Conference:

 
The conference is very well run and super organized.  I like to consider myself highly educated and well informed when it comes to breast cancer issues, and I still found sessions and topics I wanted to learn more about.  Then there was the exposition, tens of different groups, organizations and medical associations had information tables
with schwag, videos, contests and more.  First Descents had a booth at the exposition and I spent some time sitting with them and spreading the word about their amazing white water kayak adventure trips for young adults with cancer.

The other booth I spent a lot of time with was the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls, my saviors from Austin.  I was diagnosed and treated in Austin, TX though now live in Oakland, CA.  PRC is a group of young breast cancer survivors that was started after the founders attended the Young Survivor Conference a few years back.  I love this group of girls, it is not a support group, but more of a social group that provides support both in person and online.  Many of my early questions about treatment were answered by the PRC in a candid and honest format, much like this website.  The reunion with these women from Austin while in Jacksonville was fantastic; so much that I took a trip back to Austin for their annual fundraiser in the end of April.

Being a survivor means so many things to so many people, to me it is all about the new opportunities to learn and share and to make things that much easier for the next person.

Looking for more? Watch our Young Survivor Conference video and more video interviews with young breast cancer survivors.