Sometimes life throws you a curve. Even though I have had a healthy lifestyle, no genetic markers, and no family history, I had the experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago.
Before experiencing breast cancer, I thought if I exercised, had good nutrition (at least most of the time), and managed stress, I was good to go. I was doing what I needed to do to be proactive about my health. I never really worried about getting a life threatening disease. And, then I did.
I was shocked by this diagnosis. It wasn’t just scary. I was terrified. My kids were preschoolers at the time. I didn’t know if I would see them grow up.
My friend Mary said, “Linda, you are the one person I never worried about getting this.” I came to realize that if I could get breast cancer anyone could. I have since learned that breast cancer is up 30% in men. I wanted to know why.
An advantage of owning a health and fitness business is I taught workshops on managing your emotions and stress and how to be resilient. I am a licensed stress management and stop emotional eating coach. Thank God, I had some of these skills. Even with them, this journey was hard. I knew it was important for me to empower myself to understand contributing factors to this disease. Obviously, what I was doing was not enough.