It’s always important to acknowledge our accomplishments personally and professionally. Those moments help reduce the sting of disappointments, fears and challenges. Well, that’s how I look at it. I’m prone to depression and fight hard to find things to help fuel my passions.

When I look at this list below, I did more than I thought this year. All of it is volunteer. Yes, it takes various amounts of energy that I don’t necessarily have, but each one of these have brought purpose to my life.

My blog has been syndicated on Cancer Health Magazine’s website June 2019 — Present.

SHARE Cancer Support — Pleased as punch to have a piece published on this great breast and ovarian cancer website. https://www.sharecancersupport.org/2019/12/what-i-learned-about-breast-cancer-megan-claire-chase/

VoyageATL — It is my first non-cancer publication to publish my cancer story. http://voyageatl.com/interview/meet-megan-claire-chase-life-cancer-train-dunwoody/

You can also find it in the Inspiring Stories series at the top of the homepage as part of the Sandy Springs collection. http://voyageatl.com/interview/inspiration-from-sandy-springs/

WATC TV Channel 57 — interviewed for October 2019 breast cancer awareness segment for young adult cancer survivors.

Brain Cancer Diaries — interviewed for an episode during October 2019 for breast cancer awareness on YouTube.

IHadCancer.com — wrote various pieces throughout the year that were published on their site.

Presented with Francesca Music from Elon University our abstract titled, “You don’t really have a say in anything…like you don’t have any options”: AYA Cancer Survivors’ Perspectives on Fertility Preservation Conversations with Healthcare Providers at the 16th Annual American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) in Atlanta, GA in February 2019.

Francesca and I were also accepted for a Poster Symposia II: Sexual and Reproductive Health oral presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine in Washington, DC, March 2019.

Our abstract is published in the medical journal Psycho-Oncology. Here’s the citation:


Music, F., Chase, M. & Fair, C. (2019). “You don’t really have a say in anything….like you don’t have any options”: AYA perspectives on fertility preservation conversations with healthcare providers. Psycho-Oncology, 28 S1, 17. doi: 10.1002/pon.4986

Story Mistress for Paint Day and Speaker of Survivor Stories for Best Strokes: Hadassah Bares All for ART with Hadassah Greater Atlanta March 2019.

I also did a recap of my top five blog pieces that received the most views this year. It lets me know that many of you are still angry and still hurting. I can see many of us desperately need a safe and supportive outlet to release the hurt and anger without judgement.

  1. Raging Against Myself
  2. So, hair me out…
  3. Hurting to Heal
  4. When Trust is Gone
  5. Palliative Care with a bottle of cannabis

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog posts. More importantly, thank you for reaching out either through my blog, DMs or on social media. Know you’re not alone. I thank all of you for not letting me feel alone either. I made it through another tough year because of your support and encouragement.

I hope 2020 will be a year full of healing, laughter, support, purpose and love for all of us.

Until Next Time,

Warrior Meggsie

This post originally appeared on Life on the Cancer Train. It is republished with permission.