After Fleeing Abuse, She And Her Daughter Became Homeless. Then She Found Out She Had Breast Cancer.
Rays of Resilience: 31 Stories in 31 Days. So many people around the world have been affected by breast cancer, yet no two breast cancer journeys are the same. This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re celebrating a new survivor every day. Their resilience is an inspiration to us all.
My name is Thelsuice.
Today, I’m an author and certified life coach passionate about helping and guiding others to discover the best of themselves.
But there was a time when I, too, was disconnected, at a loss, and bound to fail. Despite being neglected and severely abused for a decade by family members, I always felt I had what it took to survive. Feeling certain that I could succeed if I only worked hard enough, in 2009, my daughter and I, with only $300 in hand, traveled from Northwest Indiana to my home town of West Palm Beach, Florida, for a fresh start.
Unsatisfied with only a year of part-time employment, I enrolled into a healthcare training program hoping this would bring more stability for myself and daughter. After landing my dream job during that time, I became unemployed and homeless while experiencing mounting debilitating health issues. Determined to provide a better life for my daughter, though, I continued to push forward at all costs, even if it meant the cost of my health.
In March of 2014, after losing yet another job; after months of wondering about the prickly sensation on the right side of my breast and feeling the jawbreaker-size mass in my underarm; after overlooking the swelling and numbness in my right arm, and as homelessness was becoming a reality, I was faced with a new ordeal: one that was demanding and threatening to consume my existence.
The diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma came as somewhat of a shock, leaving me with feelings of betrayal, anger, fear, and an uncertain future. Forced into facing the new reality of my life, I wanted a chance to survive, but I would have to do what I wasn’t able to do many years ago as an abused child — take control!
It was the need to focus on my total well-being during my breast cancer journey that led to a new outlook and self-awareness. I accepted my condition and realized that if I wanted better treatment I was going to have to speak up and advocate for myself. Every step, every interaction with doctors, my support groups, and sharing my story helped strengthened my connection with myself and others. As I moved through my cancer experience, I was motivated and encouraged by two oncologist social workers to speak and write about themes of survival and perseverance from my life to advocate for those facing similar experiences. While writing my memoir, “The Purpose Of Fear: A Survivor’s Memoir of Breaking Free,” I experienced profound healing and restored freedom, freedom to choose a life free of fear and desperation to one of unique purpose and growth.
I often make it known that there is no controlling the diagnosis of breast cancer, but you most certainly have a say, an influence in your course of treatment. Our experiences with breast cancer will undoubtedly be different but there’s a truth that I’ve found that benefits all going through the diagnosis; and that’s having a supportive circle. Not only was it the diligence of my healthcare team that helped me, especially that of my oncologist, it was the support that I found from previous survivors as well as those who were newly diagnosed that gave me hope and encouraged personal responsibility for my well-being.
Four years later, after the treatments of Zoladex and Tamoxifen, a mastectomy and the removal of 13 lymph nodes, I continue to journey on, in the same spirit of the self-love reclaimed and nurtured during a time when all the odds were seemingly stacked against me.
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