Rachel Meyers is a Breast Cancer Coach trained at the Life Coach School. She helps women with breast cancer create fun again in their lives after a cancer diagnosis and/or treatment.
Sometimes it feels like cancer can suck out all of the fun out of life and put us in survival mode. Rachel focuses on drawing out negative thoughts surrounding breast cancer and helps women rediscover passion, purpose, and to live their best lives – even one that’s better than before they had breast cancer.
Rachel is a breast cancer thriver and walks the walk she teaches. She lives every day with direction, purpose, and FUN! Here’s a summary of her cancer journey (in her words):
I was 44 on November 26, 2021 I got a call from my OB. It was the day after Thanksgiving so I thought it was odd that she was calling me. I had noticed a change in my breast the week before. There was a horizontal line spreading across half of my breast that wasn’t there the last time I remember looking closely.
She didn’t think it was anything concerning from doing an exam, but decided on an ultrasound and mammogram to ‘be safe’.
I was hesitant to answer her call because I couldn’t imagine good news would come on a day off. It wasn’t good news. There was a tumor. There were 2 tumors. My mind immediately turned to my mother who had died 10 years previously from stage 4 breast cancer. I was sure my healthy lifestyle would prevent me from getting this dreaded disease.
I was getting ready to travel out of state to a dear family member’s funeral and I was sent into a frenzy of tests and doctor’s appointments. My family drove without me to the funeral and I would fly in a few days so I could meet with doctors. I met with the best surgeon in my area and I don’t know why I remember this but when she walked in, the first thing she said was , “You have beautiful hair” (hair the color of fire that was lot my waist and very thick) and I said how much I’d like to keep it. She said, we’ll do our best. It’s very rare with someone who has small tumors like yours to need chemotherapy.
Life laughed in my face again!
I got a call from the surgeon on the way to the funeral that my tumors were rare. She said, not only do you have cancer but you have one of the most fast growing, aggressive, deadly cancers – Triple positive (ER+, PR+, HER2+ DCIS, Stage 1, Grade 2). The second tumor was benign so I was able to avoid a mastectomy -a miracle among so much bad news! The treatment protocol suggested was lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.
I swore I would NEVER do chemotherapy after seeing what it did to my mother. And here I was faced with so many life altering decisions in a short period of time amidst so many life stressors. I initially had planned on following naturopathic oncology protocol but I was unable to find a doctor that had ever treated anyone with my type of cancer. That felt alarming to me. No data. No statistics. No other women treated with Triple Positive cancer. After agonizing for weeks, I decided to follow conventional medicine protocols mainly because they could provide me with statistics and with those statistics, I knew my odds. 97% survival rate for 5 years.
Does all of this sound fun? No, it wasn’t fun at all. I was sent into a deep depression and felt like every decision I made would be the next thing that killed me. I didn’t know if I should listen to my heart or to my brain or to the natural doctors or to the conventional doctors or to my loved ones. Even my skin was depressed – my natural doctor said he was so worried about me because I looked gray to him. I was a lost and a sad soul. I had always prided myself on having a positive attitude but this was cancer, there could not have been anything positive about cancer at all. Or could there?
I have full faith that I (and you) can choose exactly how we think about cancer and believe it too! We can choose to be the victim or the hero. We can live in fear or confidence and you have ALL the control.
Let me show you how… We’re in this together…