Sharon (Wells) McKean’s Story Shared
Written by Sharon Cecil
With the popularity of social media, the internet and hand held devices, life’s pace has increased greatly. Some days, it is just hard to keep up with yourself much less what others are doing.
Yet, in our lifetime, we will all face some form of adversity—financial, crushing personal relationship(s), job, unrealized dreams, illness and more.
“Between stimulus and response is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor E. Frankl
Married to an Army soldier who has served all over the world, Sharon (Wells) McKean has been an avid participant with We Survive, since high school.
Sharon was an active member of We Survive’s WOW Program.
As a contributor to WOW publications, Sharon says, “Through working with We Survive I found my voice. I was challenged to write about topics I had never thought about before. I learned to display my empathy for others through my writing and was able to connect with people I had never met before. I remember meeting a lady when I was 16 who told me her story of how she had taken my poem on breast cancer out of the WOW Magazine hung it on her wall while she herself was going through treatments for breast cancer. It was pure happenstance I met her and we talked, but she cried and thanked me saying my poem gave her strength to fight for her children. I was 14 when I wrote that poem and had never known anyone with breast cancer. That is what writing with We Survive did for me, it presented me with challenges that enabled me to grow as a writer that literally gave people hope and changed their lives.”
As a co-host and moderator for WOW’s radio talk show, Sharon interviewed others on topics that covered the spectrum of health and wellness. Sharon felt, “I was empowered to use my voice, ask hard hitting questions and educate my community on issues I felt everyone should be aware of. I built self confidence and became assertive standing for my opinions and representing my peers. I learned to plan a show, develop interview questions and techniques. Opportunities I would have never been given had it not been for We Survive.”
“Never underestimate the difference you can make.”—Christopher Reeves
During her travels around the world with her husband, Sharon continues to serve We Survive in an advisory capacity. She brought global attention to LIGHTFEST Re-Ignited
At the age of 26, Sharon was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She has been involved with MS activities to include the MS Walk and educates especially during the Month of March which is MS Awareness Month.
Starting March 2016, Sharon will be launching a We Survive Multiple Sclerosis education and awareness initiative that focuses on how much having HOPE played in her resiliency.
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