We all know what it is like to “hit the wall” in life. Sometimes when we do, just being alive and putting one foot in front of the other feels overwhelming. Often, more energy is required than we feel we can muster when the stress is constant: a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, multiple job losses through the pandemic, and rising costs of living, all with constant hoops to jump through and deficits to income. Just like in this sketch quickly rendered by Robin Bousel, the world can feel like a slippery, impossibly tall wall surrounded by spikes and snakes. The harder we may try to climb over it, the more slippery it can feel as we slide down again and again, with handholds nowhere to be found or out of reach and unstable.   

Robin Bousel has hit such a wall, and her drawing illustrates what this process is like for her.  

She spoke of her journey with her cancer diagnosis in one of her numerous Sunday morning talks at the Mountain Vista Unitarian Church in Tucson, Arizona (“Pathways of Post Traumatic Growth” https://youtu.be/eiD_E2-_b84, “Death-ing: Desert Spirituality” https://youtu.be/y0wi73cGSkY). Many there were moved to tears. Her exquisite voice as she has sung songs for us like “As We Stumble Along”, “Desperado”, and “This is the Moment” has been equally inspiring. She has long considered her voice to be one of her most powerful gifts and the way that she best expresses herself, but now that her cancer has progressed to her lungs, she struggles with her breath and is not able to sing the way she used to. Between the pandemic and these changes to her health, performing has gone from her full-time passion to an occasional occurrence, if at all. She hoped to perform a few times this season but will not be able to with her current state of health. It is not just the sound of her voice that we miss this holiday season, but the loving quality and deeply felt connection to her heart as her essence pours through her words as she speaks or sings to us.

Now, Robin needs us to help her get over this wall.  

As part of her cancer treatment, Robin’s body will be experiencing more and more changes, some very difficult both physically and emotionally. The cost of managing these things is high and mounts quickly, and support through insurance and aid programs is low. She needs help to pay for ways to deal with the side effects of the cancer treatments as well as to thrive and restore her body so that it is inhospitable to cancer and to lift it out of the place of constant obstacles, and the stress of the huge wall that she has been trying to get over. She has and continues to pursue as many options and programs as she can, but those barely support basic survival needs. Even though the diagnosis she’s been given is terminal, as she would say, she doesn’t want to be counted out yet, and more support is needed to help her “rest, ride and rock” as her body needs. The balloons that Robin drew in her picture of this experience represent those of us who are moved by her presence and her story and act on it. Our contributions are the balloons. They come in many shapes and sizes and colors, just as donations do, and together in a balloon bouquet, our support can offer just what she needs to be lifted over the wall and help her get to a place of as much restorative healing as possible. Together, our bouquet of balloons can create a mighty force that will give her the strength and courage to just hang onto the strings as she receives our love and financial support.  

How many of us could hold what Robin is holding with as much grace, love, and humor as she has? 

Robin is a giver. Even during this challenging time, she still manages to see and care about each person she comes into contact with in her various roles at Mountain Vista Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Her Sunday morning talks and inspiring singing have brought many of us to tears and made her one of MVUU’s treasurers. Now, she needs our financial help to be lifted out of her continuing experience of obstacles, stress and walls that confront her continually because of a lack of funds to provide the care that she needs as she deals with her cancer diagnosis. 

In the picture Robin drew are people in an audience on the other side of the wall. Not only does Robin want to get over this wall, she wants to leave a legacy of hope and inspiration that uplifts and inspires others who are going through the process of learning to scale their own wall, whatever that may be. Through what she is learning from this journey, she wants to help us back by giving us a map that helps us through our own trials. 

Here is how to help:

This campaign goal is set with the hopes that this is enough to meet her medical and quality-of-life health expenses for the foreseeable future. Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer is an unpredictable and indefinite road, with no guarantees, a constantly shifting landscape, and challenging costs to just survive, let alone have any real quality of life or wellness. The wall for Robin is high, but this is our community’s chance to help lift her up by sharing our love, and working together to provide any support possible.

If you are able to contribute financially, a donation of any size helps push towards the goal. You can donate here through this campaign, or if you'd prefer, you can mail a check made out to Robin Bousel c/o: J. Underwood, P.O. Box 87171, Tucson, AZ, 85754.

Whether you can make a financial contribution or not, it also makes a significant impact to share this fundraiser, either on social media, or just sending the link to anyone else you think may be interested in helping. The more exposure we can all get for her, the more likely we are to reach the goal!

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the organizer of the campaign. Thank you so much!