Bio: Joan

About Joan:

I had this quote taped to my desk at my first job after college. I still have it. I don’t know where I first saw it, but it has been the reminder of how I want to live my life:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a little bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.  

-Unknown

I grew up in a family of six girls. My family was close, and we spent a lot of time outside recreating, including spending three weeks each summer in the Quetico wilderness. Not only did this time bring us closer together as a family, it brought us all reverence and appreciation for the natural world and the simpler things in life. We spent a lot of time rock hunting, berry picking, swimming, exploring, reading, playing word games, sunrise, sunset, and star gazing... I am fortunate that my husband shares the same passion for backcountry camping and we have spent weeks (twice we went for a month!) doing the same things with our children. 

I am passionate about my family, reading, hiking and canoeing, learning new things, traveling, and meeting new people.

When my youngest was three years old, I had to have a melanoma removed. It is a terrible thing to wonder if you will see your children grow up, but there is no reality check greater than sitting in an oncologist's office seeing people of all ages and backgrounds, along with their loved ones, fight this disease.  I am one of the fortunate ones, having caught the skin cancer at an early treatable stage. I am part of this group, > cancer, in order to support all the people who have battled this disease, including the ones I met in that office,  and to honor the lives of my father-in-law, my godfather,  and my two cousins that I have lost to cancer.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

-Leo Buscaglia

Our act of caring >cancer