Embodying the spirit of nurses, Cindy Bland was an incredible woman with a loving heart.
Our beloved sister, daughter, and friend, Cindy Bland, was an incredible woman with a loving heart. She worked as a labor and delivery nurse for 10 years at various hospitals in California and Washington.
After working night shifts at UCLA for seven years, Cindy moved to Seattle, Washington where she worked for two years at the University of Washington before becoming a travel nurse. As a travel nurse, she could earn additional income, experience living in different cities, and stop working nights. In February 2018, Cindy started a travel nurse assignment in San Francisco. She was excited to embark on a new adventure, yet anxious about not living near family for the first time. As it turned out, Cindy fell in love with the city, the weather, and being close to the water. She was happy to start this new chapter.
Tragically, Cindy's life as she knew it would soon take a drastic turn. On June 14, 2018, Cindy was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. It goes without saying that this terrible news was shocking to Cindy, her family, friends, and coworkers. The last year of her life on earth was filled with laughs and tears, hope and despair, and beautiful and painful moments. On May 16, 2019, Cindy’s hard-fought battle with cancer ended and she died at the age of 38 surrounded by her family. Since then, we have been eager to tell her story and continue her legacy.
Cindy left us with the following inspirations...
I remember when I lived my life thinking.. hoping.. my life would one day get better.
I wouldn’t be stressed out. I wouldn’t care what people thought about me so much. I wouldn’t feel guilty for not taking time to talk to people. I wouldn’t be in debt. I wouldn’t always wish things were better.
I blamed my situation on everything.
Where I lived. Where I was from. What I looked like. The economy. Who I was spending time with.
I focused on everything and everybody. BUT ME.
It took a long time to get it, but when I did, I woke up.
- You want a different life?
- You want your situation to change?
- You want people to treat you differently?
- Then you have to change.
- And I hate to break it to you…but you need to get on it.
- We get one life. One body. And only so many days.
This is your life and you get to decide how you want to live it.
Don’t be like me and take 30+ years to even start to figure this out.
Don’t waste years focusing on what you don’t have and what you aren’t to the point you live in a bleak hopeless state of mind.
Focus on what you have. Be grateful. Decide what you want and go for it.
Didn’t say it was easy. But it is worth it and it’s the path to happiness and fulfillment.
Because the super awesome part is, when you take that path, you will meet and help so many along the way.