12 | www.Ups tatePhys i c i ansSC . com | www.Hea l thL i nksUps tate. com There is no single answer to the multitude of questions that come with the news that you have cancer. Each reaction, choice and outcome is as unique as a fingerprint. When Lynne Pryor, 58, learned that she had stage 1 invasive ductile carcinoma on Dec. 5, 2008. “How am I going to get through this?” “Will it ever come back?” “What would happen to my children?” were the questions that haunted her. “I was 31 years old with a newborn baby at home,” said Caitlyn Harper, 32, who was diagnosed with stage 2B invasive ductal carcinoma on July 21, 2021. “After the words ‘you have cancer,’ I wanted to know if I was going to still be around for him – his first birthday, first day of school. Would he ever know his mama?” Harper added. “Then, of course, the why or the how. The why was the biggest question for me. Why is this happening? Why me?” Cathy McMillan, age 71, also remembers asking, “What is the purpose – God’s purpose? Why do I have this?” While their questions and each of their paths to remission differ, there is one resounding truth that McMillan, Harper and Pryor share: The flow of love and support that unfolds throughout a cancer journey is overwhelmingly beautiful. “People brought food, they came to sit with my kid, someone cut our grass from summer through fall,” said Harper. “They just showed up; this loving army of people showed up.” “We ate casseroles for years,” echoed McMillan, who first learned that she had a grade 3 tumor in 2006. “And the gorgeous flowers. Knowing people cared for me – some that I didn’t even know cared – was an overwhelming joy.” “Meals, flowers, gift cards and many personal ‘pick-me-up’ notes,” Pryor said as she inventoried the generosity and love she experienced. “Each Monday evening for over a month, a friend sent us Papa Johns pizza. That was the highlight of my children’s day. They would say, ‘Oh Mom, the delivery man comes tonight!’” All three women live in the South Carolina Upstate and have known each other, or about each other, for years through church and town events, including Relay for Life. As breast cancer survivors, they recently gathered for a group interview. They hope that by sharing their journeys and advice, they can help other cancer fighters face their own unique questions, choices and outcomes with less fear and more hope. LYNNE PRYOR CAITLYN HARPER CATHY McMILLAN
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