Now you have to know that just two years before this, my dad died a slow painful cancer death after suffering for 19 years from brutal radiation poisoning.  I had watched him deteriorate since age 12.  He lost his eyesight, hearing, and dignity.  I was absolutely determined that wasn’t going to happen to me!

So, in “emergency mode,” I agreed with the recommendations of my doctors without hesitation or researching my treatment options.  Shock, denial, and fear hijacked my brain and I made an uninformed decision that has had an enormous impact on my life and the possibilities open to me.

After that first treatment experience, I proceeded through my life as if nothing had ever happened. I believed that I had “gotten over” having cancer.

When I reached the widely recognized 5-year cancer benchmark, my oncologist declared me cured. And then, to make it even better, I discovered that I was pregnant with my first child at the ripe age of 38.  I was so excited! I’d always wanted to be a mom but delayed it after the first cancer experience.

But then, three years later at a routine checkup, I got devastating news.  There was a new primary breast cancer in my other breast.  I was 41.  I was trying to have another child. The news shattered my world.  This could not be happening. I’m a mommy. I love being a mommy!  I can’t have cancer!   What about my son!?!

I couldn’t breathe or sleep or even think clearly.  I lost all hope.  I plummeted into an abyss of fear and confusion.  I was devastated, and I pretty much approached this cancer experience the same way as before because I really didn’t know I had other choices. I simply followed my doctor’s orders.

Even when I was allergic to the chemotherapy, I ignored my own body’s wisdom that this substance wasn’t right for me and I took the steroids that my oncologist gave me to suppress my hives.  I was totally unaware of what a remarkably bad idea that was, to suppress my immune system. I trusted my doctor to opt for the best for me and I now know that he didn’t.  I got through the miserable chemo and surgeries with the help of an anti-depressant and a counselor.

This time, however, I didn’t go back to normal life.  I knew I couldn’t afford to do that.  This time, I left my teaching career and began to explore healing myself on the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.

As I healed myself from cancer a second time, I discovered that I loved the field of health and decided to make a career switch.  I learned about all types of therapies through personal experiences and professional education.  And in 2007, I opened a practice as a healing guide and have been working to help people and families experiencing cancer ever since.

Let me share how this journey has transformed my life!  In 2010, I was diagnosed with malignant cancer for the third time.  Apparently, my body knew that the chemo I reacted to in 2004 wasn’t going to work and was trying to tell me!  Cancer a third time by age 47!!!  Bummer huh!  The only thing was that after the initial shock, I wasn’t so bummed this time.  I wasn’t panic stricken, I wasn’t in denial, and I wasn’t angry.  I was curious.  Hmmm…now, what is this about??

How odd is that? Not scared, not angry, not stressed like in the two previous experiences. How could that be?  Well, in truth, I had spent the previous seven years looking inward and facing myself, facing my stuff, clearing out the skeletons in my closet, and I no longer lived in fear.  I no longer was ruled by being in control and I had learned to both love and trust myself and my abilities to heal, learn, and transform.   I had become proficient at using all the tools in my healing toolbox.  And, I actually had a healing toolbox.

So, I faced cancer again from an entirely different place and you know what?  It actually wasn’t that hard even though I did go through some chemo treatment again.  This time…for the first time ever… I felt empowered and knowledgeable enough to question my doctors, seek different opinions, add other therapies, and generally live in the present moment in a place of open curiosity.  In the end, I feel one reason I went through a third cancer experience, was to know, really deeply know, that the approaches that I use with clients actually work.

I am now fully certified at the third level of professional cancer coaching through Professional Cancer Coaches International (PCCI) and my goal is to save other moms facing cancer from wasting as much time, money, and energy as I did trying to figure out how to heal.

• The latest cancer news – both from traditional and holistic medicine – with links to other articles and sites
• Recommendations of books, films, and recordings that promote healing or offer cancer prevention ideas
• Guest postings
• Stories from my own healing road

May you and your family be empowered with hope, calm, and new knowledge and strategies for transforming the experience of cancer!

 –Kerri G.