Exemplifying Grace Under Pressure

Ernest Hemingway once said that courage is grace under pressure.  Susan Neibur sure proved him right.

I met Susan just once.  She sat just to my left in a small session at a conference about cause blogging.  As we went around the room introducing ourselves, Susan casually mentioned that she blogged about both astrophysics and breast cancer.  Stunned and not quite sure how the two were connected, it was not until later when I realized it was Susan herself who had battled the disease.

The very next day, Susan was honored with the Bloganthropy award for her dedication to fighting breast cancer.  It was then when I learned more about the woman who had sat down next to me.  This amazing woman had fought so hard for women with breast cancer while battling the disease herself.  And though she had been in remission for quite some time, Susan was about to fight the good fight once again.

At that luncheon and over the next few months I witnessed just how much Susan Neibur meant to everyone she touched with her presence and watched as the blogging community mourned together in such deep sadness when she passed away.  There are few people who walk this earth who have as great of an impact on those around her as Susan Neibur did.  Without even realizing it, she taught them the meaning of grace, dignity, friendship and honor.

Susan’s blog, Toddler Planet, was a raw, beautiful and gut-wrenching autobiography of her last battle with cancer. She wrote about both her physical pain and the emotional pain of taking in every moment with her children, knowing that her husband would be raising them without her.  Though I met Susan only once, a post she wrote a post a few months before her passing changed my perspective on life forever.  She wrote that, “Life is given to each of us.  We each get one shot at this sucker, and we are never really told that it will be fair.  We each get one life, one daily wage, and that’s it.  The guy next door gets one life to live.  The mom down the street gets one too.  No one ever promised us the same life, the same opportunities, the same blessings, or the same time to live.  No one ever promised that.”  

…. ”Am I sometimes envious of others, who may get forty-plus more years on this Earth than I?  Sure.  But I was never promised 80 years. I was promised a life.  And boy, have I had a pretty incredible life.”

 And on this, the anniversary of her passing, I thank her for touching my life and hope that she is resting in peace.

Today, women who knew Susan Neibur far better than I are honoring the anniversary of her passing .  Please take a moment to read their posts and consider furthering her legacy through a contribution to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation or the American Cancer Society. Thank you.

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