Some of the things Cindy Alexander says belong on a shirt or a poster. Better yet, they belong in a song.
Cindy is an artist. She uses her music to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and awareness for ALL women’s cancers. She is on tour this summer and donating the proceeds to the Fund. But it is bigger than that. Way bigger.
Cindy is the mother of two 8 year old children. She is teaching them how to use their passions for a cause. She is teaching them how to give. Actually, she is teaching a lot of people how to give.
Her journey with cancer started when her kids were young. They were too young for a lot of things. Too young to understand cancer.
Then again, are any of us “old enough” to understand cancer?
In talking with Cindy, it becomes apparent that her intention is not at all to understand cancer. It is to use cancer. And she is.
She is using cancer as a platform to give back. She is using cancer to teach others how to do the same.
She is using cancer as a reason not simply to exist, but to live and to thrive.
She is using cancer as a reminder of her own mortality. Not in a scary way, but in a way of immense gratitude. Gratitude for each day, each moment.
She is using cancer to show her kids that making a life is more important than making a living.
One day her kids will understand that when they were 4 years old, their mom faced a scary opponent. They will understand why their mom goes for check-ups less and less frequently. They will understand why each of those follow-up scans ignites fear. But they will understand that their mom conquers fear.
Cindy Alexander never met Coach Yow. She wishes she had. She says she understands from what she reads that Coach Yow had “giving energy.”
Yes. Yes, she did.
The giving energy is something Cindy recognizes, because, she too, has it. If cancer is hard to understand, giving is not. The great thing about the gifts that Cindy and Coach Yow have given is that they can never be taken away. They will always remain.
The unfortunate reality that we all understand is that cancer takes too much away from us. But, the victory is in those people, like Coach Yow and Cindy, who have “giving energy.” They give us hope and hope cannot be taken away.
To donate to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, click here.
For more information on Cindy Alexander or to check out upcoming tour dates, click here.
Photo credit Don Adkins.