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| Kim with her best friend Whisper. She says, "When riding we become one..." |
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| Kim LOVES winter sports! |
“I’ve
been living with an incurable cancer for 6-1/2 years now and my doctors are always
amazed at how well I’m doing relative to other people with Adenoid Cystic
carcinoma. I have accepted the fact that my life will end, but it will
for everyone, so why worry about it. Just live every day to the fullest
and enjoy the time you have left. That is how I’ve been living since my
diagnosis.
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| Kim loves gardening (and it looks like it loves her too). |
It
isn’t about how long you live, it’s about how much you enjoy the time you have
while you’re here and I always try my best to make the most of every day, so
when my end comes I will be able to look back and say, “what a WONDERFUL life
it has been” and pass away without any regrets. I had radiation on my
right lung last summer and am trying a new chemo to see if it will shrink the
tiny tumor that is paralyzing the pallet in the roof of my mouth. I only
have ½ my tongue left after tumor removal 6/1-2 years ago and had to undergo
multiple surgeries, radiation, living on a feeding tube. Then speech therapy and physical therapy on
my arm for the large skin graft used to rebuild my mouth. During my recovery I had to learn how to eat
orally again. It was a long 2 year process to recovery but I fought
through it. The cancer had spread to my lungs and liver before my
diagnosis so I now battle hundreds of lung tumors and now a new tumor in the
back of my throat that is making eating and speaking even more difficult.
It takes me about 2 hours to eat a normal meal that most people can eat in 10
minutes.
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| Hiking in the Sluice Boxes |
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| Skiing into a cabin at Chief Joseph Pass |
You have to accept
changes in life as your “NEW NORMAL” and move on and never look back at what
once was, because you can never go back. That’s what I do. I refuse to
let cancer take the joy out of my life or prevent me from enjoying the time I
have left. I keep doing everything that I’ve always done, hiking in the
wilderness, horseback riding, biking, camping, gardening and cooking and
baking. I have always LOVED cooking gourmet food and I still do, even though
I can’t taste much anymore. I still eat
well and exercise daily to keep myself strong. Life is a gift not to be taken lightly, but to be appreciated every
day. I only wish everyone could look at life this way. If they did,
the small stuff wouldn’t really matter.
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| Biking in Yellowstone |
I
love to share my joy of life with others with the hope that they
will look at life in a more positive way and appreciate it to the fullest. I hope this inspires others to get out and
enjoy life, regardless of how bad things are at times. As long as I am alive, I will keep on LIVING!” Thank you Kimberley for sharing your amazing (continuing)
success story! We will all do our best
to appreciate the gift of life, look forward, and live every day to the fullest!!
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| Ice fishing at Georgetown Lake |
