My Breast Cancer Journey | Episode 68

“You have breast cancer.” I heard those words on a Wednesday morning when I got a phone call that turned my world upside down. This week marks eight years since I heard the words that no woman wants to hear. It’s honestly hard to believe that phone call...

How I Lowered My Cholesterol Naturally By Almost 200 Points

It is possible to live a healthy lifestyle, and I want to share my journey with you today. In 2013, a breast cancer diagnosis turned my world upside down. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation did a number on my body. So when I got to the other side of my treatment, I...

10 Cancer Resources for You or A Friend

It was seven years ago next month that I heard the words, “You have breast cancer.” One simple phone call turned my world upside-down as words like lumpectomy, mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy forced their way into my well-ordered world. My cancer...

My Clean Makeup Journey

Having cancer makes you look closely at what you put in your body.  Just a little over six years ago my breast cancer diagnosis started me on a clean eating journey. Once my treatment was over, my oncologist told me I had three jobs: Keep my weight at a healthy BMI....

Cancer Cured Me of These Five Things

“Hello Jill, this is Dr. Nord’s office. I have the results of your breast biopsy. Are you alone?” It was five years ago today that those words turned my world upside down. Yes, I was alone. In fact, I was driving and had answered the phone using my Bluetooth. I pulled...

My Breast Cancer Journey

Four years ago this week my life changed when breast cancer became a part of my vocabulary.  It had been a part of my extended family’s vocabulary for some time because my aunt, my mom, and my grandmother had all received breast cancer diagnoses before I did. We...

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

Donned in those fashionable surgical clothes, a cap over my hair, all jewelry removed, and a pen in hand to make an X over my right breast so the doctor is assured to work on the correct side, I face the unknown once again. She found it during a surveillance...

Fantastic Food: Leeks

Several years ago when we were hosting a young man from Poland, he wanted to make a traditional Polish meal for our family. I took him to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients he needed and he asked me where the leek’s were. I had no idea. I’d never...

An Open Letter to a Woman Who Has Breast Cancer

Dear Friend, I know your world has recently been turned upside down. You can hardly breathe and you’re worried about your future and your family’s future. It’s possibly you’ve come to grips with your diagnosis but are recovering from surgery,...

An Open Letter To A Woman Who Doesn’t Have Breast Cancer

Dear Friend, Tomorrow marks two years since my breast cancer diagnosis. Today I’m sharing my heart with you in hopes that you’ll take care of yourself and do all you can to prevent cancer and detect it early if it shows up in your life. Tomorrow I’m...

The Weight of the Wait

Today I’m experiencing the relief of good news. However, before the good news arrived, there were six days of “no news.” The journey of those five days is what’s on my mind today. Last week I had my every three month oncologist appointment.  I...

Fantastic Food: Kohlrabi

Since my breast cancer journey, our family has slowly been changing our eating habits. Cancer has a way of making you think about what you put in your body more intentionally. When I finished my treatment a year ago, my oncologist told me, “You now need to take...

When Mom Is Sick

It was one year ago today that I finished six months of treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. Twelve months later, my hair has returned, my body is no longer swollen from steroids, I’m declared cancer-free, and I’m able to bring encouragement to others who are...

Give Yourself The Gift of a Chance

November 13, 2013. It’s a day I’ll never forget. Most people who have received a diagnosis that changes their life remember the date the news was delivered. And the time. And the circumstances. I was headed to the Hearts at Home office for a meeting I was...

Post-Cancer Nutrition Changes

When I met with my oncologist after my last treatment he told me that I now have three jobs: 1) Exercise Regularly 2) Eat Right 3) Keep my weight down As he explained, lifestyle changes can make a difference in “turning on” the cancer cells in our body....