How my story begins: It was a long road to determine my diagnosis. As a woman who was in their late thirties, a lot of my early symptoms were chalked up to working too much and potentially entering in to perimenopause. Being at this critical point, we treated what we thought was the issue. With blood work and CT scans coming back normal, I thought what I was feeling and experiencing with my body was just a part of life now. It took 6+ months of being seen by different doctors before I was aligned with one that would listen to me. It took no time for that doctor to get the ball rolling when she heard what had been happening with my body.
Life before my diagnosis: Before my diagnosis my life was very busy. Perhaps too busy. I had recently opened a second location for my thriving salon company, working behind the chair with my guests, and consulting with other salon companies to help their businesses grow with Summit Salon Business System. My entire world was helping to elevate salon professionals lives to allow them the freedom to create the lives they desire.
How I felt after diagnosis: Receiving a diagnosis, at what I would consider a very young age, I was stunned. What did this mean for my life moving forward and what did this look like for my businesses and all the team members that I am responsible for? How was I going to overcome this and still be a resource for my team and my coaching accounts? I was the one that needed support from others for a change and this was a very uncomfortable thought for me. So at the beginning it wasn't just processing my own thoughts and feelings, it was how am I logistically going to move my book of business to my other team members and how were my two companies going to run with me going through primary treatment.
Telling my family and friends: Sharing the news with my family and friends wasn't too difficult as most of the people close to me knew something was going on with me. We felt empowered to know what was occurring and after, have a plan in place we felt confident (most days), that we would be able to overcome this hurdle. The hardest part was telling all of guests whose hair I had done for the last 20 years.
I can remember the last day I did hair behind the chair, it was April 6, 2025. It was a Saturday. I didn't want any one of my team members to tell my guests without me telling them first so there were some heavy, tear filled weeks. As a result I think that act of sharing my diagnosis with so many people really allowed me to feel the support and love that I needed to ease some of my fears of what was potentially to come.
My treatment: Primary treatment, while short in the grand scheme of things, was overwhelming. I am not someone that enjoys routine which is one of the reasons I love owning a business and being a salon professional. It's different all the time, new people, different services, having the ability to change direction on a whim, this is where I thrive.
Six weeks of the SAME routine was difficult. Concurrent chemo and radiation, chemo weekly at 7am for 6 hours with radiation five days a week was daunting. I handled treatment well, so well that the majority of tumor was gone mid treatment when we began mapping for brachytherapy.
Brachytherapy, I wouldn't wish upon my worse enemy. It was three days of basically medical torture and there is no way to spin it any other way. Chemo and external radiation was a breeze compared that process for me. I am so glad that I did complete that part of my treatment as that reduced my risk of reoccurrence substantially. I am currently still in treatment, Immunotherapy for another 12 months. Six more treatments and I am good to go!
How I felt after treatment: After treatment, I was trying hard to protect my energy in regard to work. I took some additional weeks to return into the salon. We took a few trips where I am still dealing with residual sides effects of radiation. I felt triumphant when I was able to fully conquer a large hill in Honduras. I had a lot of trouble with dizziness and feeling lightheaded when I exerted myself so this was a victory!
I had made the decision to not return behind the chair and focus on building my team and business. THIS WAS HARD. Sharing that news with my guests who were anticipating my return was very difficult. Most people understood that my health is and should be my number one priority however, some people didn't support my decision.
What was most difficult for me: The most difficult part of all of this was establishing better boundaries for myself in regard to my health and the quality of life. I had focused so much of my time and attention on other people, recentering my energy on myself was uncomfortable. So much of our behavior is unconscious and automatic so these shifts required a lot of energy to make different choices.
There was a moment in the fall of 2025, I really suffering a bleak outlook, I couldn't see an opportunity to plan for the future, everything that I thought life would be was dramatically different with the thoughts of reoccurrence looming in my mind.
What I did to help myself: I signed myself up for therapy. As someone who supports other people for a living, self development and therapy was not a new concept to me so it was easy to recognize that I was in need. I need help to determine what really mattered to me now. How did I want to live my life on the other side of primary treatment? Survivorship is a completely different ball game: denial, grief, guilt, anger - all of these emotions need processing and time to heal. I gave myself permission to be a little messy.
Where I am today: Today I am proud to say I am celebrating my 1 year NED anniversary very soon. Life looks drastically different than it did prior to receiving my diagnosis. I have prioritized not only my health but also my time for fun and creativity. I make white space in my calendar for free time. I am home in the evenings to cook dinner with my husband. I also am feeling so much better than I have in years.
On my days off and down time, I am no longer stuck under my covers exhausted from over working and obviously not growing a 7cm tumor in my body. I always say that while cancer may be the hardest thing that has happened in my life, I do not know if the moments of peace I now have would feel as sweet if I didn't experience this unfortunate event.
What I want other women to know: I want other people to know that if they are experiencing something happening in their body and their medical professionals are not listening to them, seek another opinion until someone will listen. We are our only advocates in life. Prioritizing ourselves and our health should be paramount to anything we do in this life.
How I will try to help others: I was unaware of the stigma attached to cervical cancer until I was sitting with my oncologist. I felt absolutely zero shame around my diagnosis as it was not something that I had control over. Because of this, I have zero apprehension to share my story. This is a cancer that can be prevented, this is a cancer that didn't need to be discovered late stage, this is a cancer that doesn't have to be experienced in shame, guilt, or darkness and because of this I will now share my story to whoever will hear it.