Claire from Strong Like Sloane talks about how her daughter Sloane was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma when she was 5 years old and how Sloane's diagnosis threw her into a place where she felt compelled to use her marketing and advocacy skills to fight for other families just like theirs. Claire discusses her coping mechanisms and advocacy work. She shares how she turns her pain into purpose and finds hope in the midst of difficult circumstances. Claire emphasizes the importance of giving oneself credit for showing up and choosing to cope. She encourages parents to find what fuels them and turn their pain into purpose, whether it's through advocacy, self-care, or other activities. Claire also highlights the strength and capability that parents discover when faced with challenging situations. Claire shares her journey of finding purpose and hope in the midst of her daughter's cancer diagnosis. She emphasizes the importance of channeling the strength and focus that comes from such a difficult experience into something positive that can help others. Claire discusses the therapeutic power of writing and how it has helped her cope with her emotions. She also talks about the Strong Like Sloan initiative and its goal of raising funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment. Claire shares her experience organizing the Heartbeats for Hope event and the Calgary Marathon, which raised over $100,000 for pediatric cancer.

@stronglikesloane

Why Write Love Poetry in a Burning World by Katie Farris

To train myself to find, in the midst of hell

what isn’t hell.

The body, bald, cancerous, but still

beautiful enough to

imagine living the body

washing the body

replacing a loose front

porch step the body chewing

what it takes to keep a body

going –

This scene has a tune

a language I can read a door

I cannot close I stand

within its wedge

a shield.

Why write love poetry in a burning world?

To train myself, in the midst of a burning world

to offer poems of love to a burning world.

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