I’m a people person. Quirky and creative. I love to harmonize, play instruments, can tell you about the latest celebrity gossip and provide you with energy healing as a Reiki practitioner-it’s about balance. Most of all I love being a mom and wife.
At 37, my life came crashing down when the doctor told me: “You have Stage 4 Lung Cancer.”
I was shocked. For one, I’m not a smoker and neither is my husband. It took a long time for me to be diagnosed (9 months to be exact). As “luck” would have it, the “cancer gods” gave me the ROS1+ gene mutation so I’m still here a year and a half into my diagnosis. I'm learning as I go and have learned so much along the way. It never even crossed my mind that I could get lung cancer. Turns out all you need is lungs to have it.
We all have our journeys and hills to climb no matter how big or small and my journey has been tough (surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy and daily side effects). I’m still on a rollercoaster of emotions of feeling hopeful, scared, resolute until anxiety creeps in, but never defeated. This is why I was elated when Karlee and I decided to try our hand at podcasting. It helps to talk about my feelings while helping other parents.
I once heard that “worrying is praying for something you don’t want to happen”, and so I've chosen to focus my attention on the people and experiences that add value and joy to my life. What I know for sure is that lung cancer won't stop me. The future is not promised to anyone and my cancer diagnosis reminds me to appreciate each day for what it has to offer as a “Mom Crushing Cancer."
I had given birth to my second daughter 9 months prior and was feeling ever so pink and fluffy. I was now a busy mom with 2 active kids.
My pink and fluffy time abruptly ended the day I found the lump in my boob. It got me thinking “I need to get that checked out.” (Un)fortunately, my girls wouldn't sleep and my eldest grabbed me and I discovered my lump. That’s when I became a ‘Mom Crushing Cancer.”
My breast cancer journey was mostly in a box until my long time friend Angie called me one fateful morning to tell me she was in the hospital, recovering from surgery, after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. I knew exactly how she felt. I was the first person in her friend circle she knew who was openly sharing her cancer diagnosis journey publicly. It took me a while to tell others. It wasn't because I was ashamed or embarrassed, I was just really busy parenting while dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
These days I take a page from Muhammad Ali's book and "dont count the days" but "make the days count." Here I am 4 years later, podcasting about my healing cancer journey to help other moms with cancer on theirs.
It can feel lonely as a parent with a cancer diagnosis. It doesn't have to be.