Women undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer are marked with blue tattoos on their chest to show technicians where the radiation beam needs to be pointed. The blue tattoos are permanent, although after treatment a woman can have them removed.

Sheryl Crow, diagnosed with breast cancer last spring, who went through radiation treatment and has the blue tattoo, said, "I've kept my tattoo because it is a reminder for me. It's a reminder of that time. It's a reminder of how I want to look at my life. I want to remember. I don't want it to fade on me so fast."

Christy Schwan, who was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago and received the blue tattooing while undergoing radiation treatment, wrote a book called The Blue Tattoo Club. According to Schwan, in the spirit of sisterhood of breast cancer survivors, all women with the blue tattoos are members of the club. With her book, she wants to reach out and make sure no woman ever feels alone in her breast cancer journey.

Each cancer survivor is different. Some embrace cancer survivorship as a way to make the lives of others facing similar challenges and the world in general a better place. They reach out to comfort and to offer hope. Others simply want to forget as fast as possible the cancer experience. There is no one right way to be a cancer survivor, but I admire people like Crow and Schwan who do not walk away, who stick around, who fight as fierce warriors and gentle healers in this battle against cancer. It is, as Lance Armstrong said, the obligation of the cured for cancer survivors until a cure is found for all.

Cancer go away.

The news is not good today. When someone is diagnosed with cancer, and there seem to be so many of us now, it does not diminish the initial response when you find out someone else has cancer. The news is still a shock to the spirit, a moment where the breath catches and pauses out of rythmn, and the heart drops into another pool of sadness. As a cancer survivor, you know what is to come for the newly diagnosed, not just the physical, but the mental, the emotional and the spiritual effects for the cancer patient and those who love them.

Cancer. I hate this disease.

You have just learned you have cancer, and I am surviving cancer. With all my heart, I want you to survive cancer too. I walk back through my mind, retracing my footsteps from the day of my cancer diagnosis to this, remembering all the things I did that might have tipped the scales in favor of my living and not dying. I cannot say I know the one thing that it might have been, or the combination of things I might have done, so I want to remember it all. I want to share all of it with you. I want you to be able to tip the scales in favor of life and not death too.

Here is how I approached my diagnosis of cancer, these are the perspectives I held and the steps I took during my cancer treatments and healing. Maybe there is something in all of it that matters, that made a difference, that if you know too, will help you in your healing too.