Radiation #6 Complete

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Bittersweet completion of radiation treatment #6 yesterday. As I tried to awkwardly hold up 6 fingers in the dressing room mirror, tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t get much sleep the night before, as I had learned right before bed of the sudden passing of a very important person in my life.

Renee Felchle Burns was one of my biggest supporters and cheerleaders these past few years, but her impact went back to my childhood. Renee was one of my teachers, and had an incredible influence on my life. She saw something in me few others did or bothered to mention. To this day, I still have some of the work she graded because her words of encouragement and praise were so powerful. When I began documenting my journey with cancer, Renee immediately understood and appreciated the cathartic nature of being able to write it all out, and encouraged me to continue to do so. While it has helped me keep people up to date more efficiently, the writing process is also therapeutic, and she recognized that.

As many have probably witnessed if you’re on Facebook, Renee was a consistent presence in my comments, offering her love, praise, support, and prayers every single time. There’s no way to know how many prayer chains she initiated or how far a reach her shared posts had. She would check in on me when I’d be silent for longer periods, and I could always feel her true love coming, no matter what.

Every day as I lie locked onto the radiation table, I feel my angels and ancestors surrounding me. I keep my eyes closed and envision their love enveloping and protecting me during the long process. Yesterday I felt a new strong presence in that room. While I will Greatly miss Renee’s messages and comments on my posts, I know her support and love are unending, and that provides me a small amount of peace.

I also know that so many people are feeling her loss right now, which speaks to the loving person she was. I’m praying for Renee’s husband, family, friends, and everyone impacted by her passing. She was truly an incredible woman, and I am blessed to have known and loved her ❤️

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Published by Lauren

Welcome! Thank you for being here! My name is Lauren Doyle. My husband and I have been married since 2013, and together since 2011. We have 2 wonderful kids and live in the Twin Cities suburbs. I have both a Master’s and a Doctorate and am a board-certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. I also have the student loans to prove it. In 2019 our lives were turned upside down. Our daughter was born with a serious heart defect that required open heart surgery when she was just 5 days old. A couple weeks after her birth (while she was still in the hospital), I found a mass in my abdomen which required major emergency surgery to remove. At first, we were told it was just a fibroid; we learned about a week later that the mass was a rare and aggressive type of cancer – leiomyosarcoma. Through multiple surgeries and chemo, I have come out the other side, changed in many ways. I am now considered Stage IV, with a chemo-induced heart condition, and struggle with several other severe side effects from treatments. I continue to work and live and love as best as I can. I will not claim to have all the answers about anything, but I can tell you I have learned a LOT in my 35+ years of life thus far. My passion has always been helping and educating people in whatever ways possible. I am hoping this blog will allow me to do that for a broader population beyond the patients I see at work, share my unique journey, and help keep friends and family in the loop along the way. Thank you again for being here.

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