Carrie is a two-time cancer survivor, an oncology marketer with Lilly, and A Fresh Chapter tribe member who participated in our India Odyssey program. This October, 10 more Lilly employees who have been touched by cancer will embark on their own journeys through our first A Fresh Chapter Peru Odyssey Program.

Part 1: An Interview on Carrie’s Final Day In India

When I first arrived in India, I was surprised by the enormous amount of people and activity. Everything felt like a contradiction. The chaos, the people living under tarps right beside beautiful temples. The trash. The noise. The joy amidst struggle.

During my volunteer time, I wanted to make sure I was useful, but I didn’t speak the language and at first, it felt difficult to know if I could really make an impact. While I was there, I developed a strong connection with one of the patients who had recently been brought in off the streets. With the help of my fellow volunteer, we cared for her and treated her bed sores. The highlight of each morning was that after I finished my laundry and cleaning activities, I would help her out of bed and push her around the courtyard in a wheelchair so she could get some fresh air. She told me about her life and her family and I shared my story of cancer and my life back home.  It is still hard for me to make sense of the fact that we are both grandmothers and yet our lives couldn’t be more different. It’s hard to reconcile the fact that every day will continue to be the same for her and to not know whether she will ever see her granddaughter again. I will remember her always and her resilience has reminded me how much I have to be grateful for in my life at home.

My time in India inspired me to keep an open mind and an open heart. I want to teach my granddaughter about the importance of showing up and offering your heart. At my volunteer placement, the nuns and women who lived there saw our hearts by the end. They saw how much we cared. In addition to my volunteer time, my time at the Taj Mahal was a true highlight. It’s a magical place and I’m glad I got to experience it. My time with A Fresh Chapter in India has opened me up to traveling outside the U.S. in the future.

Part 2: A Conversation with Carrie Three Weeks Later

Carrie and A Fresh Chapter Founder, Terri Wingham

Since returning home from India, I have had the opportunity to jump back into my regular life. It has been wonderful to see family and friends, spend time with my granddaughter and catch up with my colleagues. I’ve also spent some time thinking about this experience and wondering about the impact it had (and will continue to have) on my life – both personally and professionally.

As someone who works in oncology, I have always had a deep belief in helping people and wanting to serve patients. In some respects, perhaps I thought I understood the patient perspective better than most as I have been through breast cancer twice. But, what has struck me most about my experience with A Fresh Chapter is how cancer affects each of us so differently and how the disease can leave deep-rooted emotional scars that no one can see and people rarely talk about.

If you had asked me months ago if I was looking for a fresh chapter, I wouldn’t have thought so. Throughout my treatment, I didn’t reach out to join a support group as I had a great network of support – from my family, my colleagues, my friends, and my church. So, when the opportunity to travel to India with A Fresh Chapter was offered to me, I was grateful but not quite sure what to expect. I knew the focus would be on volunteering as well as cultural activities, but I also knew I would be surrounded by other people who were looking for a different model of emotional support and I wasn’t sure how I would fit into the group.

2016 India Odyssey Tribe

After two weeks of volunteering, shared living, and variety of A Fresh Chapter activities, I had the opportunity to get to know my tribe in deeper ways than perhaps I realized at the time. The friends I made and the experiences we shared expanded my perspective and helped me see a story much broader than my own. Traveling to India helped me stretch the boundaries of my comfort zone and realize I could feel connected to a new tribe of people who could provide a different kind of support. This experience also helped me see how we need to expand the conversation about addressing both the physical and the complex emotional fallout of cancer.

Now that I’m home, I find myself missing my A Fresh Chapter tribe more than I thought I would. I find myself wondering how they are, what they are doing, feeling, and thinking. I miss the ease of being able to check in with each other over chai or connect while volunteering. I wouldn’t have thought I could feel as connected to them as I do – after only two weeks – but I’m grateful to have met them and shared our time together in India.

I guess you don’t know what you don’t know  (or what you’re looking for) – until you experience it.

If you have been impacted by cancer – either as a patient or caregiver – and you want to learn more about our future programs, please make sure you’re signed up here: Be Part of the Fresh Chapter Alliance Foundation Tribe.