Ready to move forward after your diagnosis?
Not sure what your next step should be? You have come to the right place!
Cancer definitely changes us, but it doesn’t have to define or limit us. Many women recover from cancer and go on to live healthy lives. As a Cancer Coach, I can help you take those steps forward and would be honored to do so.
You’ve been diagnosed with DCIS or Invasive Breast Cancer
You are overwhelmed by your diagnosis; you’re wondering how you are going to manage your life while dealing with your own health crisis
You feel severe anxiety and fear recurrence - you wake up in the middle of the night and search survival rates and other cancer statistics trying to make sense of it all
You try talking to your partner, family, or friends, but they don’t know what to say or how to be supportive in the way that you need
Our loved ones mean well, but often they do not provide the type of support we need on this journey. Doctors provide a cure, but they simply do not have time to spend with us to help us make the many changes we often need to implement to get our health back on track. That’s where a Coach comes in. I can relate to your journey because I’ve been there myself. My job is to spend time devoted to you each and every week to help educate and inspire you to reach your health goals.
From Breast Cancer to Thriving
In 2018 following an elective breast reduction, my tissue was sent off to be examined. My surgeon told me they would do this, yet I had completely forgotten that was part of the process. At age 39 with no family history of breast or reproductive cancers, I was not the least bit concerned about those results. The following week, however, my surgeon called me and said, “they found something called DCIS” and he was going to refer me to a cancer surgeon. I was confused. I was scared. I was angry. I was frustrated. Google was equally helpful and scared the crap out of me!
I met with several different doctors including surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, and naturopaths to obtain different perspectives before deciding on a course of action. I joined support groups on Facebook and asked a thousand questions of woman who had been through the same thing and that was immensely helpful. Ultimately, I decided to have a double mastectomy (DMX) which I was convinced was the most aggressive course of action against the progression of the disease. When my tissue was examined following surgery, it confirmed what we suspected going in; I not only had DCIS, I also had Invasive Ductile Carcinoma. What we did not expect was that it had spread to my sentinel lymph nodes (final staging was 1B). That was a scary and shocking surprise when I woke up from my DMX and it changed the doctors recommendations as well. My oncologist at the time recommended chemo, radiation, and the hormone-blocking drug Tamoxifen, all of which I ultimately declined. None of those options resonated with me.
“I believe that it is possible to reclaim your health following a (or several) serious diagnosis.”
All the testing led me to the discovery that I also had an Autoimmune Disease called Hashimoto’s that caused me to develop Hypothyroidism (basically, I had an underactive thyroid due to my body attacking it). I would later learn that I was experiencing adrenal fatigue (stage 4 to be exact) and I had severe inflammation. Learning all of this was incredibly overwhelming but it really was not shocking if you consider the underlying causes. Years of chronic stress, poor diet, lack of exercise (or the right kind of exercise), drinking too much alcohol… it all wreaked havoc on my health and these diseases were the culmination.
Many people receive such diagnoses and immediately want to know what pill to take to resolve or manage them. That is not how I am wired. I always think what is the underlying reasons/causes for developing [insert diagnosis] and lets look at what I can to do to change this course. We reversed my husband’s heart disease with this approach many years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking anyone for taking medicine. It definitely has it’s place and in some cases, there simply isn’t a better option/solution. But I do think we in the Western world are overly medicated and far too quick to prescribe/take a pill to alleviate symptoms rather than try to fix the underlying problem.
So, you might say, I decided to “take my health into my own hands”. I resolved to reverse these diseases without conventional medicines or treatments, and I accomplished just that in less than 2 years! I knew that if I could balance my hormones and support my body’s immune function, my health would turn around, and it did. Just to be clear, it’s a very personal decision to take this unconventional course and I’m not promoting that. If my cancer had been more aggressive or more advanced, I might have made different choices. The point, however, is that the decisions we make throughout this process must be our own - we are the CEO of our bodies… we must decide what is best for us.
I named my coaching business “Reclaimed Wellness” because I believe that it is possible to reclaim your health following a (or several) serious diagnosis. I became a Health & Life Coach because it’s my mission in life to support as many women as possible on this journey. It’s an honor and privilege to work with woman who want to reclaim their health and live life to the fullest! I’m ready to support you on that journey when you are ready to take those steps!
“Christy is a phenomenal coach! I always feel like I'm talking to a long-time friend when I talk to her. She has helped bring a lot to light for me!
~Shelby C.