Survivorship Series: read part one here and part two here.
Read my story about my carcinosarcoma diagnosis here.
On September 23, 2019, I dressed up in my suit and began re-entering the workforce. After two months of physical therapy and speech therapy, I somewhat regained my ability to walk and think more clearly.
Walking confidently as I could to my office, I shut the door and had a good cry. I had done my best to overcome the physical limitations that cancer treatment had placed on me, but it was at that moment that I realized that I had not yet dealt with the emotional damage cancer had caused.
I kept wondering how my colleagues could look at me and not understand this horrible journey I had been on. This was the beginning of the emotional cancer journey for me.
Who was I now after facing a life-threatening illness, what did I want, how can I be the same again, can I function at all in my old world?
These thoughts came crashing down on me. I packed up my briefcase and exited my building realizing I was not ready for re-entry into my life.
This is when I came to appreciate the tremendous gap that exists for cancer patients who are trying to re-enter their “former” lives. While the clinical team focused on my physical recovery, my emotional health was not addressed.
As I sunk deeper into despair it occurred to me that I could play a part in helping other cancer patients get through this difficult time. I understood the healthcare system, practiced social work many years ago, and secretly always wanted to be a life coach. Maybe this was my chance.
On a whim, I searched online for coaching for cancer patients and discovered the Cancer Journey Institute. I enrolled in the program to become a certified cancer journey coach and promptly met my now work colleague and friend, Sally Eggleston, Co-founder of Wheelhouse. Sally inspired me to continue to follow my path. I mustered the courage to resign from my very corporate job and join Sally in our effort to provide cancer patients with the services we so badly needed when we were on this journey.
Cancer is a journey that no one wants. However, with the help of a CancerAlly, (I am now proudly the director of this program for Wheelhouse) the experience can enrich your life and show you the strength and the power of growth that you never realized you had to begin re-entering the workforce.
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