How Much Did Your Brain Tumour Cost, Mentally?

I could barely keep my eyes open last night as a crawled in to bed.  I don't remember gazing at the clock in the middle of the night, I think I slept straight through!!!  A rare occurrence for me.  When I woke at 7:30 this morning I couldn't believe that I slept in, and as I stretched I ached all over.  There is only one explanation for this, I had a yard sale yesterday.  Now who in their right mind would think a little yard sale would exhaust someone that much?  Not me that's for sure, and I had the help of many hands.  What I am realizing is sometimes the mental aspect of something is far more exhausting then anything physical.  Again the recovery of the brain is a little more complex then I originally thought.

My yard sale was a huge success as I had no prices on anything.  It gave me a great opportunity when asked "How much do you want for this" to reply "it's all simply a donation to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada".  Which for many, peaked an interest as to why I choose this charity.  I spent my morning talking about my brain tumour, The Brain Tumour Foundation and all their support and the amount of Canadians diagnosed with a brain tumour every single day.  This lead to listening to other's stories of struggle, defeat and survival, many hugs from strangers and a wonderful feeling that I was helping a charity that few people knew existed.
I'm proud to say that my small yard sale generated $215.15 for the making "cents" of brain tumours campaign that the Foundation is running for the month of October, in honor of Brain Tumour awareness month.   I am thankful for every donation.

One thing that came up in conversation many times yesterday is how lucky we are to live in Canada.  I have no idea how much my surgery would have cost, my many trips to multiple specialists or my upcoming radiation.  What I do know is I count my blessings for all of the above.  One thing that is sadly underfunded however, is how much my brain tumour cost me mentally.  We don't take mental health seriously enough in this Country as our access to resources are limited.  This is why I am grateful for the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada's resources.  People don't really know much about them because they don't really advertise.  Instead of spending millions of dollars on fancy campaigns like some charities, the money that is raised goes back into research and support.  They rely on those who have been affected to help.  Aren't they lucky that I have a brain tumour?  Not because I'm raising money from my driveway or from the comfort of my couch (my next fundraising idea) but because I love to help.  When I was first diagnosed, I had no one to turn to.  Friends and family were great support but they knew just as much as I did about brain tumours...nothing!!!  I found the foundation on line, not because my Doctor, Neurologist, or Neurosurgeon suggested it.  I found it because I went looking.  There is something seriously wrong with that picture.  There is a huge resource out there to support the 27 Canadians who will get diagnosed today, and no one told me about it.  Not fair!!  We NEED  a national data base in Canada, we need the health care system to work with Foundations like these.  Research as important as it is, is only part of the picture.  Someone needs to reach these 27 Canadians and ask them "are you ok,I know what you are going through"  Wouldn't it be a perfect world if a patient's mental health was valued as much as their physical?

So how much has my brain tumour cost, mentally?  More then I can ever put into words.  What I can do is use my rather "large presence" in this "petite body" (in other words...big mouth) to let people know that there is support, there is help and there is someone who understands what you are going through.  I will do what I can to help out financially through fundraising so that the Foundation can reach one more person.  Even if that's $215.15 at a time.