If you are reading this, chances are you (or a loved one) have heard the fateful phrase, “You have cancer.” No one wants to hear that phrase, but a lot of people do. Too many, in fact. But that “too many” is a key to decoding how to cope with cancer.

I learned about my first tumor during a doctor visit for frequent headaches. That was in 2007.  I was in my mid-30s, healthy, a college graduate, and prideful enough to believe that I could fight cancer on my own. Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s also expensive, and boy did my ignorance cost me.

Brain cancer struck my family again in 2015. This time it was my Dad who was diagnosed, and after eight years of my own brain cancer experiences, I was better prepared to be a caregiver.

CERN Inspiration Story

It was mid-August of 2017, I was 35 years old when I started feeling upper back pain at my spinal column after adding sit-ups to my exercise routine. I assumed that I had stressed my back because sit-ups were not a normal part of my core strengthening routine and I felt as if I over did them.  After a couple of days of consistent mild pain, I visited the physical therapist at my work and asked her thoughts. She checked me out and asked me to return in two days if the pain didn’t subside. The pain was worse when I returned two days later. My therapist again ran me through some movements. At one point, she noticed something odd. She urged me to see my general practice doctor and suggested that from my movements she was assuming that there was something neurological going on. She thought an MRI of the spine would be a logical next step.