Walsword: There really is going to be medical info, but in teenspeak OMFG!!!!!

Yeah really OMFG......I have a smile from ear to ear. I don't have anything wrong with me today. All of my medical whinges are going to wait for another day. I have a very special person who is most definitely one of my Top 10 Authors. He has made me laugh out loud while learning stuff that I am genuinely interested in. What a winning formula. What an amazing place the internet can be, I am truly in awe.

Goes like this;

On Jan 13, 2012, at 7:34 PM, Juanita Davis wrote:

Dear AJ
My name is Juanita. A couple of things, you are totally on my other list and this email is to ask your genuine advice. Please hear me out, I can imagine you get some weird email, and this is one of them. I have metastatic cancer, the bad sort. I will play that card very rarely but am hoping that you will feel sorry enough for me to answer. It's hard to get attention in this life and I got nothing to lose.

I have an infant blog called walswords.blogspot.com, I have only posted a couple of entries but am determined to keep writing. My question for you is this....

I feel passionate about a lot of the people in my life, family, friends, cancer patients and mostly all human beings. Writing a blog for anyone is cathartic and my angst only two days into it is almost enough to make me want to shut it down and run away from the internet forever....I could do that easily. What I cannot do easily is stand by my convictions. I really, really want to attach my blog to my facebook page, but then, whoa!!!! My daughters will have access, their friends will have access, people will actually know stuff about my disease! And the horror of my Oceans Eleven...oh no. But that was my whole point of my third blog. Some people's suffering can be a beacon of information and a step towards spreading love through a Community. Alice's Bucket List shows the power of facebook in a lot of good ways. Do I risk that exposure? Do I really want to help people or do I just want to fade into the background once again?

Well that is all, I love your writing, you have made me feel like a friend through the pages of your books.

Warm regards
Juanita

And next thing you know, and I mean within hours, now that's a response. I hope you are reading this Peel Hospital Endoscopy Ward and Charles Gardner PET scan department

Hi Juanita,

Thanks for your kind words. I love your blog -- your writing is delightful (even if I didn't make the official Ice Bucket list). I hope you continue to write it.

It's a great question about whether to expose yourself. I do know that I've bared my secrets to the public, and I've found it very rewarding and liberating, if a bit scary. Of course, your situation is quite different, so it's hard for me to say what you should do. Would it cause pain to your family in anyway? Or maybe the benefits to your family outweigh the risks.

I wish I had something more concrete and definitive to say. I fear I'm no help at all and I'm rambling on incoherently.

Good luck with everything, and I'll be following your blog.

Un-bloody-believable. That's Australian for you little ripper. A.J. Jacobs wrote straight back to me. And he is going to follow my blog. Bloody hell I'm in heaven

Love to all xx