Cancer U Thrivers

Kelley was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma in September 2011, two days before her 41st birthday. She had a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction, chemotherapy, radiation Today, Kelly is 10 years cancer-free.

• 01:22: I was working out one day, and I had this stabbing pain in the side of my left breast. 
• 03:23: I'm telling my parents regardless.  
• 04:55: How old were your kids?  
• 07:26: I've always heard that cancer doesn't hurt so why did this hurt? 
• 09:10: There weren’t a lot of surgical options in there other than reconstruction.  
• 10:57: October I had surgery. 
• 13:28: I remember after my pregnancy; I couldn't feel my feet because they were so swollen.  
• 15:09: She was telling me she had never had anyone have this kind of emotional reaction to this medication before. 
• 17:24: I never ended up in the hospital. 
• 18:58: I was able to accept the radiation part.  
• 21:08: I started researching master's degree programs. 
• 23:22: If it wasn't for cancer, I would still be a dental hygienist. 
• 24:32: What is that one thing you wish you'd known at the very beginning? 
• 25:45: Now I have this new implant that they think is ruptured.  
• 27:19: Nobody told me that I was going to have issues with my chest muscles for the rest of time.  
• 28:07: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S., what would it be and why? 
• 30:02: I had a full hysterectomy because I was having all kinds of issues after chemo. 
• 31:11: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions. 
• 34:14: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Kelley's website
• Kelley on Facebook
• Kelley on Instagram

After Jenn was diagnosed with breast cancer at 43 followed by five surgeries and 18 months of treatment, coupled with dealing with anxiety/depression, she is passionate about helping others by sharing coping strategies and helping them take control of their lives. She has made it her passion project to share her research and educate people on the importance of reading labels and knowing what ingredients are in our foods and household products.

• 01:32: I found a small marble-sized lump on my left breast. 
• 03:20: They learned of a tumor that was deep in my chest cavity. 
• 04:59: What kind of surgeries were they? 
• 06:59: It sounds like you finished up treatment, both chemo, and radiation before Christmas 2019. 
• 08:16: How did Covid affect your follow-up? 
• 11:05: Everything has been on my left side.  
• 13:17: They would pump me up and they had to do it quite slow.  
• 14:25: What was your worst moment? 
• 16:34: Did you hear my experience in the mammogram? 
• 18:04: What is one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of your cancer journey? 
• 20:10: I wasn't excited about having my fifth surgery.  
• 20:48: If you could only do one no more to one thing to improve health care in Canada what would it be? 
• 22:05: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 23:01: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Jenn on LinkedIn
• Jenn's Coaching profile
• Jenn's Journey to Healthy Living Facebook Group
• Email Jenn at [email protected]
• Call Jenn 416.831.8392

Rebecca is a breast cancer thriver, having been diagnosed when she was just 28. She is an actor, writer, teacher, and integrative cancer care advocate. In 2019, she founded Solis Cancer Community, where she shares weekly posts and blog articles that cover topics on integrative and whole-body healing pre- and post-cancer.

• 02:26: It was a big shock to everyone because my mammogram had been negative.  
• 04:46: People don't like going to the doctor, especially when they're nervous about something.  
• 07:25: I did Herceptin for a year. 
• 09:14: I did a lot of research on statistics and recurrence rates.  
• 11:35: How involved were your family and friends? 
• 14:06: Those were two of the scariest things for sure.  
• 15:30: Aren't you afraid that if you have a recurrence, you're going to regret not doing those treatments? 
• 17:28: I started meditating to deal with the stress of the situation. 
• 19:12: Cancer has changed my life in so many ways.  
• 21:22: I didn't believe in myself for a long time. 
• 24:01: I had a cold every three weeks. 
• 25:37: I was waking up every hour and a half.  
• 26:50: What is one thing you wish you had known at the beginning of your cancer journey Rebecca? 
• 28:49: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in Canada, what would it be and why?  
• 30:43: We see the best outcomes from a combined treatment path.  
• 31:23: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 33:14: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Rebecca on LinkedIn
• Rebecca's business website

Ben Cooper is a Christian, husband, father of five, author, speaker, and beekeeper. Ben used his second cancer diagnosis as a therapy to launch his writing journey of Christian devotionals and children's books. His love of farming and nature is the backdrop of his writing.

• 01:13: Take us back to the beginning of that first cancer diagnosis and tell us where your journey began.  
• 03:52: I was already scheduled to have a specialist in Baltimore look at me.  
• 06:29: Was it considered throat cancer? 
• 08:20: My step-grandfather had had neck cancer.  
• 10:07: I don't want my kids to be shocked to see a different dad come home from the hospital.  
• 12:07: My percentage with the surgery was a 35% survival rate. 
• 15:07: Did you make it to five years? 
• 18:49: Why couldn't they get you in sooner?  
• 20:28: Writing was my second therapy. 
• 22:42: If I'm involved, I'm 120% involved. 
• 23:42: What was your worst moment? 
• 26:15: I was not wrong in challenging the hospital and saying, why didn't you tell me this? 
• 28:09: My wife was in tears. 
• 30:05: Almost 20 years later, I have a sinus infection every day of my life. 
• 32:27: People I didn’t even know sent me letters of encouragement. 
• 33:18: What is one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning? 
• 34:19: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U. S., what would it be and why? 
• 35:05: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 36:19: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Ben's website
• Ben on LinkedIn
• Ben on Amazon (links to his books)
• Email Ben: [email protected]
• National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD)

Tim Sohn is an almost 15-year survivor of chronic myeloid leukemia. He shared his story for the first time in June 2021. Tim is a husband, a dad to Megan, 10, and Katelyn, 6. He also owns his own business, Sohn Social Media Solutions, where he produces memorable live shows and virtual events. He also coaches impact-focused brands and nonprofits on how to create their own.

• 03:46: Take us back to the very beginning. 
• 05:37: I've reached out to leukemia survivors through LinkedIn. 
• 07:54: Luckily there are several options when it comes to CML and oral chemo medication.  
• 10:39: You don't know what the cause of the headaches is? 
• 12:45: What was her reaction when she did find out?  
• 13:55: What was your worst moment? 
• 15:10: What was your best moment? 
• 17:19: What is the one thing you wish you had known at the beginning? 
• 18:06: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US?  
• 20:22: Don't take anything for granted. 
• 22:52: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 24:50: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
• Email Tim here: [email protected]

Liz Benditt is currently President and CEO of The Balm Box, a self-care and gifting site for breast cancer patients. In addition to teaching undergraduate business marketing courses at the University of Kansas, Benditt also serves on the Education First Shawnee Mission board of directors and volunteers with National Charity League. She lives in the Kansas City suburbs with her husband and two children.

• 01:54: Take us back to the very beginning.  
• 04:16: We'd like you to have surgery within the week.  
• 05:58: 11 months after having been diagnosed with melanoma, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. 
• 08:32: I ended up in the hospital for two weeks while they tried to figure out a drug protocol that would get me off I.V. Calcium. 
• 10:27: Thyroid cancer is very common.  
• 11:36: For whatever reason, my body needed a higher-than-normal range of calcium for normal calcium production.  
• 13:38: It was on my nose, and it was just big enough that it required plastic surgery to cover it.  
• 16:06: This was what was going to help me avoid being disfigured.  
• 18:47: The fatigue hit me like a brick.  
• 20:53: What was your best moment? 
• 21:52: What is the one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of your cancer journey?  
• 23:03: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why? 
• 24:31: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions  
• 25:59: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 
• 26:54: Then the pandemic hit and suddenly, I wasn't super busy anymore.  
• 30:52: My vision is to get beyond breast cancer and to offer packages for a whole variety of cancer treatments.  

Resources

• The Balm Box
• Email Liz at [email protected]
• Liz on LinkedIn

Freddye is a mother, a nurse, and a singer. She has been a nurse for 34 years! She has been a professional singer for 25 years. She currently works as a GI surgical oncology outpatient nurse with pancreatic, rectal, and colon cancer patients. She performs for charitable events every year. She has performed in local hospitals. As a twice breast cancer survivor, she gives her time and energy to those who are fighting their cancer and to those who have lost a loved one to cancer.

• 01:39: Tell me about becoming a nurse and why oncology?  
• 04:07: My mother ended up dying of two different kinds of cancers.  
• 06:46: Did nursing school prepare you to be an oncology nurse back then? 
• 09:27: I was 30 when I graduated from nursing school.  
• 10:52: Take us back to the beginning of your cancer journey. 
• 13:36: Cancer runs rampant in my family on both sides.  
• 15:43: You had a mastectomy on one breast?  
• 17:03: I told him I said I think it's back.  
• 20:04: I had to laugh my way through it both times because my friends and family were so morbid. 
• 22:52: They say nurses make the worst patients.  
• 25:02: She had lymphoma and colon cancer.  
• 28:04: I think he died less than three months within the diagnosis.  
• 31:15: We've seen a lot as far as cancer and death in our family, but I'm trying to understand it. 
• 31:57: What was your worst moment?  
• 34:33: What about your best moment?  
• 35:58: I was the first one to graduate from a four-year college.  
• 38:52: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why? 
• 40:13: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 41:31: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource that you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• Miss Freddye
• MT Management Group
• Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

CarrieVee (Verrocchio) Cancer Survivor, and Caregiver, MBA, is a Motivational Speaker, Published Author, Podcast Host, and Certified Transformation, Forgiveness, and REBT Coach who helps those who have forgotten how to dream, overcome their excuses and live the life they were created to live. 

She is the founder of the Radical Empowerment Method - a program designed to walk people through the exact method she herself used to move from a life of feeling invisible to a life of empowered success and action.  

• 01:24: My cancer journey began this past December. 
• 03:36: My mother was in her fifties when her first diagnosis of colorectal cancer came. 
• 05:41: Do you have children? 
• 07:34: If you knew that you had this gene, would you have had kids? 
• 09:08: How was your experience as a caregiver different from your experience as a patient? 
• 12:25: Did you find any support as a caregiver?  
• 14:5: What does post-operative care look like as a cancer survivor? 
• 17:56: What was your worst moment?  
• 20:24: What was your best moment? 
• 21:44: What is the one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of your cancer journey? 
• 24:27: I had a hysterectomy in 2009, but they left my ovaries in because I was premenopausal. 
• 27:03: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why?  
• 29:17: What is a share plan and if you want one how do you get it? 
• 31:54: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 33:20: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 
• 35:17: Unforgiveness in your life is the one thing that will keep you stuck.  

Resources

• AliveandKickn (more about lynch syndrome)
• Carrie's website
• Carrie on LinkedIn
• Christian Healthcare Ministries
• Lynch Syndrome International

After surviving kidney cancer, in 2002, Patricia was determined to learn all there was on how we contribute to creating disease in our body. What she discovered is; it is always about our belief system. She wrote her book “Daydreams Come True” A self-coaching workbook, to share with others her lessons learned, so they too, can live a life of Thriving!

• 02:42: You have a mass on your kidney. 
• 04:47: I had grown up in a very dysfunctional alcoholic household.  
• 06:08: They had to remove the entire kidney.  
• 09:35: I feel about 99% sure that I feel safe with using the word cure.  
• 12:05: I gave up beef only because I was never a huge fan of beef. 
• 15:14: What did you do to work through those emotions? 
• 18:06: Especially as a child, you're trying to figure out how you fit in this world all around you. 
• 21:53: I started to revisit all my beliefs.  
• 24:08: What was your worst moment during that time?  
• 25:09: What was your worst moment?  
• 27:21: What's one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning? 
• 28:26: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why? 
• 29:43: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 30:34: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Patricia's website

Norma was diagnosed with terminal metastatic esophageal cancer in the summer of 2020. Upon hearing her dire diagnosis, she immediately decided to start streaming her worst experiences with cancer while wrapping it in her greatest love: pinball. She gives weekly health updates, provides cancer information, and flips her favorite pinball machines from her Florida home.

• 01:45: They've told me that I'm terminal and they told me a year ago.  
• 03:08: I went to a family doctor at the end of February. 
• 06:01: I was all by myself in this giant hallway when mortality hit me. 
• 08:05: I remember not feeling that great because I started to go downhill quickly from the diagnosis.  
• 10:21: I couldn't make it from the living room to the bedroom without sitting down.  
• 13:00: There was a tournament to raise money for cancer and they put my name on the tournament. 
• 15:45: I started playing competitive pinball about seven or eight years ago. 
• 18:25: What's your favorite pinball machine and why?  
• 21:14: I didn't get my fingers back all the way.  
• 21:31: What was your worst moment since your diagnosis?  
• 22:42: What about your best moment?  
• 24:30: I'm just going to make the best out of X amount of time I have left. 
• 27:38: I think that if you have cancer out there, the last thing you want is to be pitied and the last thing you want is to be treated differently because you have the disease.  
• 29:05: What is one thing you wish you'd known at the very beginning of your cancer journey?  
• 31:27: My sister had breast cancer. 
• 32:14: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why?  
• 34:24: Insurance is about ensuring that you remain healthy on a much smaller level.  
• 36:35: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions  
• 40:58: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Email Norma
• Norma's Twitch Channel
• Norma on Facebook
• American Cancer Society