Survivor Stories & Information

I was born at 25-weeks gestation. After suffering from a grade 3 and grade 4 inter-ventricular brain hemorrhage at birth, I later developed hydrocephalus. I was given a VP shunt and have had over 19 brain surgeries. I have severe anxiety as a result but I am slowly learning to …

I struggled with stomach ulcers and pain prior to my intuition pushing me to get more thoroughly checked out. It turns out I have a rare cancer known as a soft tissue sarcoma. Out of the many treatments, surgery has been the most difficult. But I keep going; it’s a mantra …

25 with Endometriosis Endometriosis: the mysterious women’s health disease that affects 1 in 10 women. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue, similar to the lining of the uterus, grows in other areas of the body. There is no cure, there is no specific known reason of why it develops. …

Life seldom turns out the way we expect it to, especially for anyone in her 20s.  Receiving a diagnosis of a disease that has no cure, a disease that could be life threatening is a frightening experience and it leaves you with a sense of uncertainty. I had always been a super …

In 2013, one of my identical twin daughters, Mischa, 41, (pictured) passed away from bacterial meningitis. She was an assistant principal in the Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, the same school district where her twin sister is currently employed as a principal. She had been ill almost all her …

I was diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 29. I was only a couple of months late, my first smear had been clear and I had no symptoms, yet there I was, in an office at the hospital while the consultant told me how sorry he was that this silent …

When do you get “Back to normal?” Maybe the better question is whether or not there even is such a thing as “Normal.” Society tends to make us believe that we should fit into standards they’ve defined in order to be considered a part of the status quo. But what …

In 2013, I was a newly independent adult. I had just graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in Health Science. I moved to the central coast of California; home to beautiful beaches and amazing weather. I worked full time as a medical scanner and part-time as a waitress. My …

I’m a cervical cancer survivor. In October 2018, I went for my first pap smear at 27 years of age (I know, silly me). I received the results from my smear two weeks later and was told I had high-grade severe dyskaryosis. I was booked in for a colposcopy and …

Hi, my name is Chaneta, I like to go by Juliet. This past year has been an interesting one, to say the least. I’m a singer-songwriter who wrote and released an album in October 2017. I thought the year was going to be an amazing one–promoting and performing–unfortunately, I performed …