I invite you to share your stories of Hope Elevated, as we continue the cancer journey together. Send stories to sassante@txcc.com for possible inclusion in this column.

Terry Purdom travels the country to share is message of hope.

     I recently spoke at a large conference about the way I keep hope alive in my personal life. A message of appreciation from an audience member reminded me that it's not only cancer survivors who appreciate the message of "Hope Elevated". Where would our lives be without hope? Sometimes we forget about the power of hope.
      I look at traveling through life as traveling across a mountain range. This came to me when I was traveling last summer on my Harley. I was coming out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, when I stopped to take pictures of the Grand Tetons. That's where it came to me. The Grand Tetons are full of peaks and valleys. As we travel through life, we occasionally stumble off into a valley.

      Being diagnosed with a deadly cancer, like multiple myeloma, is a deep valley to stumble into. It's this hope that I have that reached deep down into that valley and lifted me up. The danger is when you let that hope stumble off into that valley with you. If that happens there is nothing to pull you up out of that valley. You must work to keep hope elevated in your life and that is the message that I carry.
     For me my hope begins and ends with my faith in God. I know that multiple myeloma can only destroy my body, but it can't destroy my soul. I try and put God first in my life. My soul is safe and well and it is in good hands. My hope rests on the promises of God.