Ok, long answer here. When I had my lumpectomy I thought I was a survivor. WRONG! I had an affected node. When I completed chemo and radiation I considered myself a survivor. WRONG! Less than 5 years later the same breast had two different types of cancer so I had a double mastectomy. That caused me to think: will this be an ongoing saga of hops and jumps and reversion from being a survivor to being a victim (or as someone said "haver"? Therefore, FOR ME, I was a survivor the day I was first diagnosed because I was ALIVE! And approaching the 6th anniversary of my first diagnosis, I am STILL a survivor. When my husband came to pick me up after I received the first diagnosis, he said he was taking me home. I turned to him and practically spit out the words, "NO! I am STILL ALIVE. I am NOT DEAD. I just have cancer! Take me to the school!" I have survived almost 6 years since the first diagnosis and almost 2 years since the second diagnosis. What else could I be but a SURVIVOR!!

Okay there seems to be some disagreement. I'm going to celebrate two dates...my "survival "date...when I had my first abnormal mammogram and was diagnosed, and my "cancer free" date...the date of surgery. So I am currently a survivor of 9 months, and have been cancer free for 6 months :-)

To Heck with that! *L* A survivor is from day one diagnosis! You survive each and every day, and some days that is a real feat! Some cancer patients don't ever HAVE surgery! I had to wait an entire year of weekly chemos before I got to my surgery and I declare I survived every day! I endured and remember the difficulty of some days to just be, let alone accomplish anything! I WISHED/LONGED for them to simply PLEASE take it out of my body so it could not just keep growing and becoming immune to the current treatment causing me to change treatment again and again! There is NOT a single woman on this site that is NOT a survivor! In all honesty the diagnostic testing sometimes is worse then any of the treatment/surgeries... I'd be mad as a hatter to not get credit for having gone through all of that!

I think it may be just a point of reference. I could not remember my own name sometimes during treatment, but I remembered my diagnosis date. But LindaP is right, it means you've continued to survive since, you know, this date when this happened to me.

i was told and i tell folks, it's the day of diagnoses. everyday you wake up, you are a survivor! you survived the treatment and the cancer. everyone here, is a survivor! :)