A cancer diagnosis is a life-altering experience. But telling your best friend that you have the Big C is earth-shattering.

Soon after my whirlwind diagnosis, I called her up on a Sunday afternoon. I attempted to be my happy-go-lucky self. But that plan quickly fell to pieces when I blurted out, “I have cancer,” immediately after telling a joke.

Her laughter quickly cut off, and she said, “What did you say?”

With a crack in my voice, I repeated my heavy words a second time.

As soon as I began to repeat myself again, my incredible friend took up the role of a supportive friend and gave me an encouraging speech about how I would be just fine.

She reminded me that I would draw strength from my faith as I had always done.

Little did I know, at the time, that she was utterly terrified by the news. Everyone wants to be close to a loved one going through a life-altering experience, but she was traveling for her job 90% of the time. Despite this, my friend said she would be there for whatever I needed.

She held herself to it for the entire two and half years of full-time treatment I underwent. When I visited her town for treatment, she tirelessly worked her schedule around being there for me.

But she offered me something else that was so much more valuable that I will remember forever. When she traveled, she wanted me to know that she was always there for me in spirit. So for two years, she sent me a 3×4 prayer card every day.

These prayer cards became priceless to me. I would pull out a prayer card when I was at my lowest. They were invaluable in lifting my spirits at my lowest times. My husband would collect all the prayer cards in the mailbox when I had a procedure or treatment. He would hold them in his pocket and give them to me before or during a procedure.

Eventually, they were something that I could share with other patients in the treatment room. The prayer cards my sweet friend had shared became a gentle comfort to my soul, offering me untold strength for every trial I faced. But they also allowed me to give hope to someone else journeying down a difficult road.