The Wheels are Still Turning

I tell myself I don't owe anyone explanations, but when it comes to Echoes, I just can't bear the thought of leaving our community in the dark.

It's been quite a few months since I've published interviews, reflections, or really anything on Instagram. And trust me, it's not for lack of ideas. I've had so many things I wanted to do. Expand our community, get back to publishing weekly, introduce our merch, bring new voices into the mix. All the things I've been looking forward to doing. I also know there's no point in looking backward and beating myself up over what I haven't managed to accomplish.

The past few months, cancer has had quite the grip on me. In some ways, I've been able to do something about it. In others, I've had absolutely no say in the matter. I spent fall, thus far, getting pretty thoroughly mauled by cancer, then trying to figure out which wounds I could actually do something about and which ones I just had to ice, bandage up, and learn to live with. Sometimes that meant taking things head-on. Other times, it meant accepting that I needed to step back.

Somewhere in all of that, Echoes stayed in the background of my day-to-day life but never really left the forefront of my mind.

I desperately want to write. I wake up wanting to write, I go to bed wanting to write, and somewhere in between, I'm usually thinking about all the things I want to write. But the exhaustion, the pain, the hospital admissions, the medications... they just keep piling up. One thing on top of another, until there's this enormous wall between me and the things I love doing. And some days, it feels like I'm using every last bit of energy I have just to keep that wall from coming crashing down on top of me.

Being pulled away from my creative outlets is hard enough. Being pulled away from a community that means so much to me, one built around solidarity, perseverance, and camaraderie in the midst of cancer's many destructive forces, feels like a particularly nasty gut punch.

But here's the thing: Echoes of Us isn't going anywhere.

At its heart, Echoes will always be a storytelling initiative dedicated to amplifying the voices of patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers. And I mean that quite literally. Echoes of Us is bigger than my ability to show up every single day. Far beyond my own breath, I want this community to keep breathing, creating, connecting, and giving back through writing, storytelling, art, interviews, and submissions of all kinds.

Which brings me to some exciting things happening behind the scenes!

I've been working on job descriptions for a number of internship and volunteer positions because, well, there's a lot I'd like Echoes to become, and I certainly can't do it all myself.

Between daily blog posts, weekly Stories and Reflections, our upcoming signature merchandise store (with profits supporting sarcoma and AYA cancer care), a monthly newsletter, and all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into keeping an organization running, we're going to need more hands, brains, and creative minds involved.

I'm putting together positions across a few different areas, including Editorial & Journalism, Creative Writing & Storytelling, Communications & Social Media, Fundraising & Development, and Operations & Strategic Partnerships. Once the descriptions are ready, I'll share everything on Instagram, along with an application form for anyone interested in getting involved.

And honestly, I'm really happy with where I see Echoes of Us going. I'm excited about the direction we're heading in and, perhaps even more so, about the team we're building to help carry this thing forward. I don't just want to create something that exists while I'm able to keep up with it. I want to build something with roots, something that can keep growing and changing and bringing people together for decades to come.

There's something incredibly comforting, and also incredibly exciting, about knowing that this community can outlive me. That storytelling and connections will remain foundational parts of who we are, and that teamwork will persevere long after I'm no longer the one behind the keyboard.

I started Echoes because I believe our stories deserve somewhere to go, somewhere to be heard, and somewhere to find one another. I still believe that just as much as I did when we started. Maybe even more.

I may not always be able to show up in the ways I'd like, and I have no idea what the next few months will look like. But I know what I want the next few decades to look like for Echoes of Us.

✨✨✨We've got a lot of work to do. And I have a feeling we're just getting started. ✨✨✨