About Me

My name is Elizabeth Swift Timms, although most of you know me simply as Eli. Currently I am an international teacher living in Santiago, Chile.  I am a foodie who loves travel, wine, dancing, and history.  I started this blog in order to let friends and family know what is going on with my cancer treatment and also as a therapy to help me fight this battle with as much success as possible.  I was lucky to achieve complete remission after my first diagnosis and resumed my life after undergoing 9 sessions of chemo, several surgeries, and radiation.  Unfortunately  approximately 2 years later the cancer metastasized in my brain.  Again, I underwent treatment, but miraculously the treatment was successful again.  I was cancer free for a few months before I received the devastating news that the cancer is back in the brain.  I’ve undergone treatment a third time and am just waiting to find out if the treatment worked.  Below is my favorite poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson which encompasses my goals in life.  I hope that I have, indeed, fulfilled many of these:-)

To laugh often and love much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.