Seven years ago I took the above photo in a rare energetic moment during 6+ months of chemotherapy treatments. I was feeling pretty zen from a year of meditating and pretty humble from the physical and emotional effects of battling cancer. I’m grateful to now have seven years of cancer-free life between now and then, and looking at this photo still fills me with a dose of calm.
I won’t go into the details of my cancer struggle here – I’m sure it’s documented in this blog if you dig deep enough. Today I just wanted to celebrate my good health and say thank you to both the hospitals that cared for me and cured me back then and the conservation organizations that have kept me working in the years since while doing amazing work to keep this planet functioning, beautiful, and livable.
If you have the desire to donate to cancer-related causes, these are the ones I support:
Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund
Recovering from cancer and having to rebuild a career after not working for a year was a huge challenge, but I was insanely blessed to freelance for amazing non-profits who hired me to work in beautiful places throughout the northeast. I can’t express enough gratitude to these clients! If you are looking to support an environmental cause this year, these are the groups I’ve worked with over the last few years (in alphabetical order.) I can vouch that all do meaningful work.
Essex County Greenbelt Association
Mt. Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
National Parks Conservation Association
Natural Resources Council of Maine
Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy
Society for the Protection of NH Forests
Grateful for another day,
-Jerry
