Photo: Ana Kitson Ferguson
"Pack your bags and get out!"
Ana Kitson Ferguson is 45 years old, has four teenage daughters, advanced stage breast cancer and an extraordinary fighting spirit.
Instead of writing her farewell letter , Ana writes an open letter to her biggest enemy - her cancer disease. With this courageous step, she wants to encourage other women to face the disease, to look her in the eye and to fight.
"Dear Cancer,
you won! You have managed to turn my life completely upside down and threw all my dreams into the scales. You have forced me not only to change my entire life, but also my view of what life really means.
You can raise your victory flag, pin the little pink bow on my chest that has become synonymous with you all over the world. You can put me on the list of millions of women infected with your virus worldwide whose lives you overshadowed like a dark, black cloud.
Cancer, only your name puts us all in fear and horror and transforms even the strongest human being into a vulnerable little creature. Like a Narcissist partner, you rage in my life, and whenever I think I'm in control of you, you're pulling me off the ground again.
You really have to be proud of yourself for having such a power over me!
But that's over now, I want the divorce. You've messed up my life completely and your nasty claws hold me tight, but they will not destroy me. Because you have made me stronger. You encouraged me to regain control and to fully enjoy every moment of my life.
As with any divorce, it does not mean you have never existed, you just have no room left in my heart. I thank you for the lessons you have taught me and for the good things that this terrible time has produced in me.
And in the end I have only one more thing to say: finally pack your bags and get out!
Your Ana
Ana has been living with her cancer for more than 12 years, she has written various books, is a nutritionist and speaks at congresses about her fight - which, according to this combative letter, she probably does not want to lose.
