My kids like to say they saved my life. And, honestly, they likely did.
I was lying in bed one morning in the Summer of 2020. Pandemic, lock downs, too much screen time… my two daughters, then six and four, ran into my room to wake me up. They started jumping on the bed and I immediately grabbed my breasts to protect myself from the little monkeys.
We are Diverse. We are Inspiring. We are Victorious. We are Amazing. We are Survivors! We are D.I.V.A.S! It was August 13, 2018, when I heard those “cold” and gut-wrenching words from my doctor “you have breast cancer”. I dropped to my knees and began to weep.
In December 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, after a routine mammogram showed abnormalities. Like so many, my diagnosis came as a complete shock, as I truly believed I was at my healthiest. I was only 43.
While breast cancer certainly left me with physical trauma and scars, it was the emotional and mental pains that impacted me most.
“Being an advocate for yourself is the most important thing you can do for yourself in this lifetime, regardless of what your diagnosis is.”
This is just one of many powerful insights from a major research study we conducted over the past year: SHARING OUR OWN EXPERIENCE: A Qualitative Study with Black Women Diagnosed with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
"The beauty and tragedy of life can be found in the small moments. The big things, the huge challenges, they just colour the background. Don't let the background get so dark that it obscures your vision. Look for the light, you'll find it in a beautiful butterfly, a magically sunny day, or a child's smile.
You know that scene in My Cousin Vinny when Miss Vito, played by Marisa Tomei, explains her expertise in automobiles? The one where she has to validate her knowledge in a subject area based on her own lived experience and her family’s history with car mechanics?
“Well, my father was a mechanic.
In November 2022, I was diagnosed with stage four inflammatory breast cancer at the age of 28. I was completely caught off guard by this news being a young mother of three children, ages seven, five, and a year and a half. My time with them seemed to be taken away in a single sentence.
