Friday, May 7, 2010

How My Conference Trip Came About

About a month or so ago, I was so fortunate to receive an email from Lisa Rendall. I had not known Lisa prior to this email but I was very happy to meet her. Not only is she a fellow mets gal but she also introduced me to the idea of going to a metastatic breast conference in West Conshohocken, just outside Philadelphia. 

The conference was put on by Living Beyond Breast Cancer. After reading her email, I quickly went to the website and was immediately interested. What held me back was fear because I would be going alone. I thought I was physically strong enough but mentally ... I’ll be honest, I was afraid. It took me some time to make the decision and when it was made, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I sent my registration in and wasn’t looking back.

Now I needed to book a flight. I only had a few short weeks before the conference so I knew all the good flights would already be gone. Well it turned out to be a good thing because I received an email from my friend Arlene and she said Air Canada was having a seat sale. I jumped on the phone and booked my flight. I ended up making a few stops but saved a bundle.

Once I booked my flight I then decided to mention the conference on the blog. That is when I got a couple of emails from some mets gals in Calgary saying they were also attending. In fact we ended up connecting in Calgary as we were all on the same flight to Toronto. It was nice to have some company along the way.

I now needed a place to stay so I booked a couple of nights at the Philadelphia Marriott West. I wanted a roommate to help share the costs. It was suggested I go to the discussion board on the Living Beyond Breast Cancer website. That is where I connected with Vilma. She and I became roommates and friends. Since then Vilma started a blog entitled … Not Just Sadness, where she shares her cancer story.

While I was making plans for the trip, I received an email from Chris Lynds from The Edge of Light blog. She said she was also going to the conference.

And finally, one gal from a support group here in Edmonton made a last minute decision to come to this conference. What a great time it was meeting these gals.

I have to thank Lisa for sending me the email that started this whole process.

7 comments:

Vilma said...

Wow Daria! Quite a bit of a positive 'trail' for you to get to the conference! Glad tho cause I got a chance to meet a truly wonderful person. Cheers :D

Christine said...

Thanks to Lisa, and to you Daria. As you know, your blog is where I found out about the conference & I found it to be really worthwhile. It was great to meet you in person! I know what you meant about being fearful of going, but in the end I'm so glad I did.

Santa's Gift Shoppe and Ideas said...

It's great that we can all lift each other up!!! Take Care..
Hi..I’m Barb….I am from New Friend Friday.. I am your newest follower. I hope you will get a chance to visit my blog @ santasgiftshoppe.blogspot.com
& get inspired by something for your family/home. I hope you will follow me as well. Nice to meet ya new friend!!!

Lisa Rendall said...

Thanks for the mentions girls! I'm SO glad you came. I too was a bit apprehensive about attending, simply because it was my first conference that was strictly for us metastatic women. I didn't know how I would handle it emotionally, but seeing so many women looking GREAT despite having stage 4 cancer made my day. I've been to other conferences before and knew what to expect, but emotionally I didn't know what this one would be like. And we lucked out with the HOT 90 degree weather didn't we?! Of course I came back to snow and rain...

Hope to attend this one again in the future and my goal is to SPEAK at it. I wanna be up there telling my story, showing my Power Point and helping others. Maybe I should just have a private workshop in my hotel room!!! lol. Keep in touch girls and keep fighting tooth and nail.

Alli said...

Daria glad your experiences were positive ones!! Will be looking forward to be reading the information you will be posting!

Alli........Xx

WhiteStone said...

Sounds as if you enjoyed this very much! Good for you!

RivkA with a capital A said...

Oh, man! I am so jealous!! (crazy, isn't it??)

I would so love to attend, but I am just too far away!