Sholanda Says Cancer Navigators is Helping Her Fight the Good Fight
My breast cancer story is a very difficult but important story to tell.
In November 2021 at 44 years old, I was diagnosed with breast cancer that was in my bones and liver.
Love had found me later in life because I refused to settle. I had been married to my best friend for 5 years; I wanted a baby, and months prior my gynecologist said that if I lost over 200 pounds he would help me and my husband get pregnant. So when I began dieting the summer of 2021 and the weight was coming off, I thought, “YES this is God! This baby is supposed to happen.”
Life was good. I was happy and in love. Loved by a man who not only said it but showed how much he loved me. What woman wouldn’t want to bless their marriage with the tippy tap of little feet!
Cancer was nowhere on the radar! But is it ever?
I sat in the exam room in December 2021 confirming what I had already known. I clasped the hand of my best friend, my husband, and tried not to cry as the doctor asked about children, and if we wanted them. I looked at Mike, and I knew his answer. He told the doctor, “No,” but she had to hear it from me. I meekly agreed because how can you have a baby if you’re dead?
Ninety days later my world crashed even more when my best friend, my husband, died from complications of COVID-19 due to his Type 1 Diabetes.
No baby, no husband, terminal Cancer? Why even fight? Just let go!
In February 2022, I was battling Stage 4 breast cancer ALONE and trying to navigate as my own caregiver.
Life was hard! Many times I have thought that death was easier than to fight this fight alone.
But God isn’t done with me yet. And that hill that looked so hard to climb, I did it! Yes, I have fallen hard more than once or twice, but I keep getting up.
It’s 2025 and here I am. Still going and still fighting but NOW….I fight smarter not harder. I ask for help from those I know who will help me. I’ve learned to stop giving me away and to honor myself, that my wants, needs and feelings matter.
Cancer doesn’t just affect your body, but in order to fight and win you have to change everything. How you eat, drink , thinkand see yourself or IF you see yourself in the world around you.
The battle continues and I am fighting like the champ I am, with the help and encouragement of Cancer Navigators. The different services they offer have helped me tremendously to navigate this arduous journey – services like grief counseling, not just the grief of my husband dying, but the tremendous loss of self that I have felt.
It feels good to talk to someone who sees me, to the roll-up your sleeves type mentality that speaks to the grit and dedication of the social worker…the kindness and warm giving spirit I receive when step I into the office…to supplying liquid nutrition and means to get back and forth to doctor appointments and treatment. Most of all, the ladies in the office of Cancer Navigators give out hope, love and support, which are so critical when you’re in the battle for your life.