Six days ago, I went on a long walk to the beach and green space in my community. Consistently, I was frustrated by the people not wearing a mask or social distancing when they came near me. I vented my frustrations in an online group for breast cancer survivors and wrote this:

“I am walking at the beach near my place, and half of the people (as per usual) are not wearing masks. Some of them have masks around their neck, but they do not pull them up when they get close to me. Is there a company out there selling t-shirts that say something like, ‘I am a cancer survivor [or I am immunocompromised]. Wear your mask around me.’ 😷 I would so pay for a t-shirt like that at this point. ”

I received a lot of responses and reactions to my post. Other breast cancer survivors and patients shared how they were experiencing similar issues to mine. Some offered to make me a t-shirt, recommended websites for me, or simply expressed how they were frustrated with others in their community as well. 

Well, today I received this t-shirt in the mail. I keep offering to pay the survivor who customized it for me, but she will not take my money. She made t-shirts for two other survivors who expressed interest. not going to lie. I did tear up a little. Cancer sucks, but people in the cancer community care for each other in a way that I wish more Americans cared about each other.