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Cancer Survivors Vow to Spend Every Day of 2015 Conquering New Challenges

By Justin Breen | August 3, 2015 6:03am

CHICAGO — Both breast cancer survivors, Dana Stewart and Colleen Bokor are truly living this year.

Throughout 2015, the lifelong friends have been spending every single day trying something new as part of the "Life It Up 365" project they started.

That includes grand plans like visiting Ireland together and going to the Kentucky Derby to simple things like eating a pomegranate for the first time or learning how to tie a tie.

"I think it's kind of rejuvenated both of us," said Stewart, 37, of the South Loop. "For us to do all these things we would never have done had we not been diagnosed with cancer, it's been an amazing journey."


Lifelong friends Dana Stewart (r.) and Colleen Bokor started the "Life It Up 365" project. [Dana Stewart]

Finding a new challenge to conquer every day has been difficult, Stewart said. Her favorite "accomplishments" so far have been throwing boiling water in freezing cold air, finishing the Soldier Field 10-mile race, making a snow angel (as an adult), learning hopscotch, eating octopus, taking a selfie with a turtle, standing on the Golden Gate Bridge, seeing the Panama Canal, listening to National Public Radio, checking out the top of the St. Louis Gateway Arch and, yes, going to Epic Burger.

Bokor, 30, who grew up across the street from Stewart in suburban Downers Grove, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 — two years after Stewart. She came up with the "Life It Up 365" idea after hearing Lu Ann Cahn at a Living Beyond Breast Cancer conference discuss how a similar "I dare me" challenge had changed her life.

Bokor, who's weeks away from attending the University of Illinois at Chicago for a nursing degree, said getting into nursing school was one of her major daily tasks. Other favorites include writing a letter to a soldier, a pledge to start composting, visiting Hawaii, learning to drive a stick shift, going to London, using Snapchat, reading a book in a day, working at a homeless shelter, taking a CTA bus, staying in pajamas all day and trying "popcorn fro-yo."

"It's often the days in the middle of the week when not much is going on that truly makes you look to the present and appreciate the experience of trying something ordinary," Bokor said. "I hope that the spirit of the challenge inspires others to try new things and not be afraid of change. It has helped me get out of my comfort zone and be present in the moment every day so far this year. We're halfway through and I can't even believe all of the things that we've done so far."


Dana Stewart (r.) and Colleen Bokor are all smiles after the Polar Plunge. [Provided]

The pair, who are both now cancer-free, has done most of the tasks separately but some together, including participating in the Polar Plunge, going to a tea tasting, running the Shamrock Shuffle and traveling to Ireland. In a few weeks, they're going indoor skydiving together.

"We have so many things coming up," Stewart said. "Who would have thought something so silly could have made such a difference in your life? I didn't think I'd even be alive today."


Dana Stewart (l.) and Colleen Bokor visited Ireland together earlier this year. [Provided]

For more information on the "Life It Up 365" project, and to make suggestions to Stewart and Bokor, click here.

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