In December of 2016, we launched our Reimagine The Future fundraising campaign and raised over $15,000 in scholarship funds. Thanks to the generosity of our year end donors as well as contributions throughout 2017, we were able to fund 7 partial or full scholarships for our 2017 programs in Peru and South Africa. Today on the blog, we are excited to feature one of our South Africa scholarship recipients, Laura Wells.

Whether you made a contribution via the Melissa Carroll Legacy Fund or donated to our campaign in honor of someone in your life who has been impacted by cancer, we are grateful to you.

If you want to keep changing lives with us, please give what you can and help us spread the word about this year’s campaign: Redefining What Is Possible After Cancer, so we can give patients, survivors, caregivers, and advocates the gift of possibility, renewed purpose, and connection in 2018.

Laura Wells – A Blessing & A Healing Experience

Laura found A Fresh Chapter through a fellow melanoma survivor and a member of our tribe. From the moment we connected with Laura, we knew she would be a wonderful fit for our South Africa Odyssey. Laura is a melanoma survivor, a mental health advocate and a nurse educator who brought compassion and heart to her volunteer activities and interactions with her fellow tribe members. Below are her words describing what the South Africa Odyssey program meant to her. 

Blessing, the best descriptor for my South Africa Odyssey 2017.

My diagnosis with melanoma in 2016 induced shock and fear. The  frenzy to control the process – fact finding, seeking treatments and measuring my reactions – was born and became magnified by myriad other life challenges. Thankfully – the generosity of A Fresh Chapter donors made the marvelous healing experience of South Africa possible.

I learned of the possibility of this opportunity at the eleventh hour, and this is where the blessing begins. I surprised myself at my rapid acceptance of so much unknown . . . could this enhanced strength be a gift of cancer?

As I began Odyssey preparation I focused on the wonder and thought of this quote, “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. -“ (Anonymous). Life was escaping me and I needed to return to living.

Awestruck by the opportunity, I imagined connecting with others affected by cancer – these souls embodied as tribe members and patients within my volunteer placement would “get it.” And, they did. It didn’t matter if we spoke the same verbal language because we were all speaking the same language of human experience – of hope and loss, and of light and dark.

Integral to the South Africa Odyssey was the healing power of music – the marimba band in the township, the varied bands along the waterfront, the drum circle we shared, and the song of my lovely fellow tribe member and Melissa Carroll’s loving father, Paul. I shared my volunteer placement with Paul whose music and cheer lifted us.

Sharing our cancer stories and sharing everything but cancer – it was affirming to experience this with people who could relate and to be inspired by their incredible resourcefulness! Volunteering at patients’ bedsides compelled me to hold focus in the present and offered me freedom from the constant whirl of societal media. Empathizing with each other, I emerged lighter! The spirit of the South African people seeped into my soul, and I am more whole for having been gifted their richness of heart. I feel their example and kindness coupled with the resolve and beauty of my fellow Odyssey travelers propelling me through new revelations – including the realization that I am worthy to receive a blessing this big.

With immense gratitude I will continue serving as a melanoma warrior, providing sun safety education, supporting people with resources, and lobbying on Capitol Hill. An active member of NAMI ( National Alliance on Mental Illness) since losing a dear friend to suicide many years ago, I gained new momentum from the Odyssey to continue fighting to end the stigma of mental illness. After experiencing the stigma of a cancer many deem you bring upon yourself and after enduring depression throughout this diagnosis, I will pay forward the healing I found with A Fresh Chapter.

Join Us This Giving Season In Redefining What Is Possible After Cancer

If you want to change lives with us in 2018, please donate to our Redefining What Is Possible Year End Fundraising Campaign. Your contribution will make it possible for people financially or emotionally devastated by cancer to discover healing, strength, renewed purpose and lasting connections.  Click here to make your contribution. All gifts of $100 USD or more are eligible for a tax receipt and a token from one of our international destinations.

Redefining What Is Possible After Cancer: AFC’s 2017 Year End Campaign on Crowdrise