Many people refer to living with cancer as a ‘journey.’
But what if you refer to your normal, nomadic life as a ‘journey’ and cancer suddenly appears?
For me, that meant a visceral and distinct hatred of the term ‘cancer journey’ because it was cancer that took away (hopefully temporarily) the journey that we had chosen, worked so very hard for, and barely begun living.
In late 2022, I (Susan) was diagnosed with cancer.
This section of our blog delves into that experience from the perspective of a full-time slow traveler in the hope that it helps anyone facing something similar.
Desperate to find signs that we could deal with a cancer diagnosis and carry on with our lives as nomads, I searched and searched the internet for stories of other full time travellers who confronted this type of challenge.
I found only one story, which was deeply honest and moving and helped me gain perspective.
Other than that, I found only stories of people who, after fighting cancer, had decided that life is short and they should live out their travel dreams now. Some of these were inspiring and helpful to see how people balanced travel with quarterly cancer testing.
Sadly I also found last posts from family members stating that the person who started traveling with cancer had gone into recurrence and passed. But all of these shared the commonality that the traveler was happy with their decision to spend their days experiencing the world.
I was surprised when I was then referred to the same narrative I had already found, Dalene’s, by Erin of Never Ending Voyage, whom we were fortunate enough to meet whilst both in New Zealand during the initial years of the pandemic. If she, one of the best-known long-time travelers in the blogging community, only knew of one other blog detailing this experience, I could rest assured it wasn’t my terrible search techniques missing others.
This confirmed for me that I wanted to find the courage to share our personal story to illustrate another version of what it’s like to have life interrupted by serious illness when you don’t have a home base. How it feels when your life is a series of temporary homes to facilitate multitudes of adventures and then is suddenly interrupted by a shocking health crisis.
I attempt here to share the logistical and emotional aspects that are specific to nomadic life with cancer. I am not attempting to share all the emotional challenges confronting everyone receiving this news, although those are certainly a part of our experience as well.
Start Here for our full Cancer Story
Jump Here for Specific Challenges and Advantages of Facing Cancer as a Nomad