A radiant smile. A communicative warmth. A sparkle of life. Megan Pischke gathers it all. From the bliss to ride down virgin slopes all over the world to the most challenging moments she had to go through these last few years, she unveils her personal path in which each thing, positive and negative alike, matters to form a rich and coherent whole.
‘Life really started for me when I began snowboarding.’ It did not take long before Megan found a community of people sharing the same enthusiasm, the same core values. The pure joy to be immersed in a wild and magnificent nature. To live fully in the present moment, at the right time and at the right place. Snowboarding was during many years the connecting thread allowing her to discover remote and fascinating countries like Greenland and Turkey, to share precious moments on the mountain with her mentors Jeremy Jones and Craig Kelly. Megan came out magnified of all those experiences, as a snowboarder but also as a person. Her vision sharpened, became more and more mature, making it possible for her to find out who she really wanted to be in this vast world. Having received so much meant only one thing to her: inspire others in her turn. Since the date of its creation back in 1996, she has been involved alongside B4BC, aka Boarding for Breast Cancer, founded among other people by Tina Basich and Shannon Dunn, two pioneers in female snowboarding for whom she has a tremendous respect. Snowboarding would become a platform for her to convey positive messages in relation with health and the environment. ‘I knew deep inside me that THIS would be my path: a strong desire to help and inspire others.’ She gradually sets up four-day retreats in Colorado for women suffering from breast cancer or who have survived it: yoga, nutrition, spirituality are the central themes of these oasis of well-being. The North Face, a longtime sponsor, does not hesitate to support her project and embarks on the adventure. Megan considers those retreats as a sheer achievement, offering women a space of serenity allowing them to take care of themselves, to learn and grow.
And then one day, the unthinkable happens: it is her turn to be diagnosed with breast cancer. 2010. Pregnant with her second child, everything seems to be smiling on her but she feels deep within herself that there is something wrong, without being really able to put words on it. A change must take place in her life but it does not come without generating some sense of fear. During the period of fall 2012, the medical staff detects a stage-3 breast cancer. There will be a before and after that time, a real ‘shift’. The question raised is somehow troubling: is cancer that long awaited ‘shift’? This deep break is the starting point of a major introspection period in her life, which she surprisingly welcomes with great serenity. Her relationship with time changes in a positive way: she does not want to rush things whatsoever but relish them even more. ‘No matter the difficulties, I will be there, more than ever in the present moment.’ Surges of optimism prevail over dark hours. Her eighteen-month treatment constitutes the greatest lesson of patience in her existence. One day, she decides to film a cold cap therapy session, a technique which preserves hair despite the heavy consequences of chemotherapy, in order to share it with the Boarding for Breast Cancer community and all the women leading the same battle as her. What is in the first place a segment of a few minutes will turn over the months into a true documentary about her physical and spiritual journey, soberly entitled Chasing Sunshine. Things naturally fall into place, without being planned, everything happens in the most organic way. ‘I had the strong will to write in this film my own story, to touch people, to show them that the simple fact to live is a gift.’ Presented in various festivals in the United States since the beginning of the year, it has received each time a very special echo in people’s hearts. Most likely because Megan manages to show in such a subtle way that one has the right to feel vulnerable and at the very worst, that it is part of a whole which is called life. ‘I do not think I would feel so good today if I had not hit rock bottom.’
Megan is convinced that her experience as a snowboarder and ambassador for B4BC prepared her for this very particular stage in her life. She is touched right in the heart by the surge of love and generosity born around her and has now more than ever an acute consciousness of the world surrounding her. ‘Every morning I open my eyes, I just feel so grateful for this new day I am being offered.’
Vanessa Beucher for 7Sky magazine & 7Sky.life
