Rethink Remembers: Jasmin Fiore-Dodge

Beautiful Jasmin –

This tribute to you comes later then we wanted, but we know your laid-back spirit would forgive us. As a group of women who have plenty to say, we lost our words when it came to losing you.

You were a member of the Rethink family for a long time. First as a peer support volunteer and then as a full-fledged leader in in the metastatic breast cancer movement. Your contributions to the cause evolved as you did. Your guidance and leadership was not the aggressive system-change kind – although you definitely appreciated the need for fiery advocacy for those with MBC. It was more of the “do all the good you can, by all the means that you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can” kind.

When it came to facing life and the most troubling and dark circumstances, you found the light and radiated it. You didn’t just “talk the talk” with mantras and inspirational quotes that you picked up along the way – you embodied them through your humanity and your kindness.

And when we first heard of your passing, we took a moment, read this passage by Pema Chodron (a favourite of yours), and enjoyed a delicious strawberry:

“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse.

Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly.

Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.”

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.[/perfectpullquote]

Thank you for that reminder, Jasmin. Although we can no longer bask in your glow, we are forever inspired by you to continue creating a community for women coping with cancer that will nurture their soul and heal their spirit when they feel broken.

Thank you for creating Stretch Heal Grow and for trusting us to carry it forward. Thank you for showing us how to hold space for others even when we are suffering ourselves. Thank you for continuing to be a guiding light in the lives of the many, many people whose lives you touched. Thank you for everything.

With love + gratitude,

MJ, Shawna, Alison, Maura, Jen, Stacey, Ali, Alex, Paulina and Bailey