Overcomers Retreat 2018- Recap
Norma and I with one of the Retreat Buses
Overcomers Retreat 2018- Recap
Hello!
My name is Alexander, and I am the online marketing volunteer at Overcomers. (I’m actually referred to as the “Guy in the Chair”, but marketing volunteer sounded more professional) I am also the son of a breast cancer survivor, Genny Small, who is the Founder/President of Overcomers.
In this blog post, I will share my experience of being the son of a breast cancer survivor.
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What was it like when you found out your mom had breast cancer?
My dad actually was the first person to tell me and my seven other siblings my mom had cancer in 2014 when I was ten years old. “Cancer”, I thought, “Why would my mom have cancer?” It was almost like a feeling of “why my mom?” that everybody who sees a loved one or relative that is going through cancer gets. We always think it happens to somebody else, but when it happens to your own family or even close friends, you hope that it’s all just a bad dream and that you will eventually wake up.
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Did you do anything special for your Mom during her treatments and surgeries?
Yes! Besides the obvious of helping my older sister with the younger siblings, cleaning, and the occasional breakfast in bed for my mom, two of my brothers, two of my sisters, and I performed a dance at our church to the song by For King and Country Entitled, “It’s Not Over Yet” to encourage her and anyone else facing a storm to never give up. God is in charge regardless of the outcome. Watch the video of our performance below:
Another cool thing that Mom and I did was compare our hair growth. When her hair started to come in, it was getting to be about the same length as mine. See photo below:
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When your Mom was declared cancer-free, and there was no more chemotherapy, what did that feel like?
It was like a “Hallelujah!” and “Take that Cancer!” moment at the same time! I was overjoyed that there was no more chemo and that mom was okay.
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You said that you do marketing for Overcomers. How did that start and what is Overcomers?
The Overcomers program was born out of the fact that my Mom saw that there were very little support options for Breast Cancer Survivors after they actually finish treatment. Breast Cancer survivors are in “fight mode” once they hear the words, “You have cancer.” There is really no processing of all that happens to them as they go through cancer. Through the Overcomers programs, workshops, retreats and events, we hope to help survivors process all that has happened to them as they process their “new normal”. Through this program. over 75 survivors lives have been encouraged, equipped and empowered.
Overcomers became officially a 501 c3 nonprofit organization in 2017 but had been running workshops for breast cancer survivors since 2016. Overcomers started developing their online presence in August 2017, with social media and their website (which you are currently reading this blog post on). I believe I started working on the website out of the fact that I love clicking buttons. 🙂
One day I saw my Mom trying to set up this website with her best friend on the phone. I pulled up a chair and watched the steps of what my Mom was doing. Our friend helped opened a door I never thought I would enter in supporting web design and creation. I eventually started doing the website myself after watching videos and attending webinars and online classes that covered advance stuff like SEO and coding in HTML.
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Finally, do you have any encouragement for another person seeing their mom fight cancer?
Absolutely! Hope is my anchor. The Bible says in Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed.” The only thing that you, as a son or daughter of a cancer patient, can do is pray for your parents healing, and trust God! It often is the hardest thing to do but is so easy. I would tell them to find someone they can share their feelings with like a Pastor, another adult or trusted friend. It’s normal to be scared and to wonder, what’s going to happen? Your mom is fighting for her life and for those that she loves. I don’t know your personal story or what your family is experiencing but I believe that His plan is always better than ours.