First, I’d like to apologize for being so damn RUDE and not writing a blog post since LAST YEAR!
Second, I’ll warn you that this post consists of some profanity and it will give you more insight into my life.
Third, it will end in a positive way, I promise!
Rewind almost 3 years ago . . . after seeing a good friend of mine pass away from a rare form of Cancer, I was sitting outside of my best friend’s house about to leave. As I’m about to start my car, I get a call from my mom (I knew it was important because she started the call by asking me if I am sitting down). Her voice cracked as she said . . . “Zia has Cancer”. When I heard the “Ca-“ in her sentence, it felt like the whole world was caving in and the universe was spinning so fast around me. Immediately, tears flowed down my face and I kept asking “why?”, “are you sure?”, “how?”. Of course my mom didn’t have the answers to those questions. Aside: For those of you who don’t know, my Zia is my aunt but she’s actually more like my second mom & sister all in one. So naturally, after realizing those questions can’t be answered, I immediately become the “Positive Pauly” I am and finished the convo by telling my mom that she will be ok and everything will be fine. Meanwhile, never in a million years had I imagined that someone as close to me as my Zia would EVER get Cancer.
Now fast forward about a year, after Zia finished chemo, got her female organs removed, found out the Cancer stemmed from her Ovaries (scary after seeing the stats). . . she’s Cancer free! “YES! I knew it! I knew she would be ok” I thought to myself. Now life goes on, I thought everything would go back to normal . . . lol key word is thought.
About 8 months after being pronounced cancer free, doesn’t Zia go to get a check up? Lo and behold, she finds out her cancer has come back. . . this time, it’s in multiple organs. Great.
Sooooo, at this point I was like honestly, I need to do something. I thought to myself, “How could she be Cancer-free and then have it re-occur eight months later? Oh ya, because Cancer is a b i t c h”. There neeeeeeds to be more research done on Ovarian Cancer, you know why?
Check this:
Ovarian Cancer is the 8th most common cancer in women and the 18th most common overall (American Institute for Cancer research, 2018). The five-year survival rates range from 39-77% depending on the stage (Canadian Cancer Society, 2019). This is mostly because it’s silent (sneaky little bitch); there is no way to screen it and once women find out they have it, they’re already at a later stage. As Zia says, “Ovarian Cancer is overlooked – yet every woman in the world is at risk.”
For this my friends, is precisely why from April 8 leading up to Ovarian Cancer Day on May 8, I’ll be running the second annual campaign called “Protect Your Petunias . . . with Rose Boxes”. It’s a campaign all about women; to raise awareness about this “silent bitch”. So that maybe one day, we’ll have some way to screen for it and in turn, survival rates will increase.
10% of every box sold from April 8 – May 8, 2018 will be donated to the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (reason why I chose PMCF: my aunt has been doing her treatment at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and has had nothing but great things to say about her doctor and staff) in support of Ovarian Cancer research. Click here to see it’s legit.
Last year was a great success and we were able to donate proceeds from over 40 rose boxes. That being said, if you donated last year, thank you so much again! If not, help us Protect Your Petunias this year by purchasing a For Always Flower Company rose box, here!
xx
J