After writing a grant application to the SAMFund, I was awarded funding for a year's worth of free yoga, all the physical therapy I needed, and car insurance coverage. After being on disability and using up all my savings, I had NO money to physically or mentally take care of myself post-cancer. The SAMFund made that possible. Now I go to Restorative Yoga classes as often as I want without worrying about the cost. It has worked wonders for me - physically and mentally. I feel I am finally gaining the control of my body that I felt I lost through my cancer experience. And I am taking care of myself in ways I never would've been able to afford.

When I learned I had cancer, I felt completely out of control. I felt my body was not my own. Doctors knew more about my body than I did. Doctors would inject me with poison. I felt out of control. And then? My brother and friend convinced me to go to a First Descents Camp. One of the most incredible feelings of my life was finally learning how to roll the kayak (from upside down in the water to right-side up above water). I had been underwater, unable to breathe or see, about to freak out...then I collected my thoughts, moved my body and my paddle in the precise right way, and BOOM. I was up. I could breathe. I could see. I had done it. I was safe and heading down the river. I was back in control of MY body. My FD experience was absolutely incredible. I can't imagine healing so intensely any other way.