AYA Cancer

The Power of Community and an Exceptional Gift

⚠️ This content may be triggering for some. Includes infertility and pregnancy. ⚠️

Dearest Cervivor Community,

Happy Survivorship Month! No matter where you land, it’s a reason to celebrate. Even if you’re just celebrating today. We all get so caught up in milestones. It’s hard not to. Comparisons are everywhere and we all just want so much more time. But what I’ve learned over the years is that each new day is really the greatest gift. One day at a time.

Beyond National Cancer Survivor Month, I’ve got a bunch of reasons to celebrate. June is also my birthday month (yay for birthdays!), and today marks the anniversary of my radical hysterectomy at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

Twenty-one years! I remember when the hospital called to confirm my surgery. I was 25 years old, shocked and terrified that I wouldn’t get to see my 26th birthday. I pleaded with the scheduling coordinator to schedule surgery after my birthday. I thought, if this was it, I was at least going to celebrate one last time. But I didn’t get my way. My radical hysterectomy to rid my body of the cervical cancer tumor that was taking over was scheduled for June 14, 2001, at 7 am. I walked myself into the operating room, got up on the table, and woke up hours later – forever changed, both physically and mentally.

I didn’t know then how my own diagnosis with cervical cancer would play a role in my own life, as well as the lives of others. I couldn’t even imagine my current role as a patient advocate, and leader in the cervical cancer patient advocacy space. It certainly wasn’t a goal of mine, but I just created what I wished I’d had. This “work” has been life-changing, fulfilling, difficult, triggering, and yet one of the greatest joys of my life. I’m proud of what we’ve built together as a community. My dedication to our cause is greater than ever before.

The last few years have been challenging to say the least. We’ve weathered so much together, and now we can include an ongoing pandemic to that list. During the pandemic we kept the community going with virtual events. In fact, it was during one of those virtual events that I met someone so very special from our community, Ginny Marable.

Ginny joined us for several events and was even a speaker at our September 2020 Cervical Cancer Summit. While I was learning more about Ginny, unbeknownst to me, she was also learning more about me. She saw my true desire to be a mom, and the heartbreak that it would probably never happen due to my hysterectomy.

Fast forward: Ginny and her husband Sean began their path to parenthood via a gestational carrier. She shared their beautiful journey with us as a community, as well as on social media. When her twin boys were born, I was so elated for them, but if I’m honest, I also felt that familiar ping that I would never experience that moment. But I was just so happy for her, that feeling of sadness was fleeting.

Another short fast forward: Ginny reached out to me for a phone conversation. Never in my wildest dreams could I have known how that call would have changed my life. I mean, I haven’t even met Ginny in person – only through our virtual space. So, I’d like to make June even more memorable by sharing with my Cervivor community at large that Ginny is giving me an exceptional gift that I never imagined could be bestowed on me – motherhood.

Ginny has simply taken the power and love of this community to an entirely different level. We shared our unique story with Insider and you can read about it here.

My hope is that you will feel all the love, and our “Cervivor Spark”. But simply, thank you, Ginny!

With Love and Gratitude,

Tamika Felder
Chief Visionary, Cervivor, Inc. 
21-year Cervivor
Mom-to-be

Reaching That First Big Milestone

Five years? How is it possible?

Five years. It seems like much longer yet it’s still so fresh in my mind. I have spent so much time processing through what happened to me – the good and the bad. Where there was darkness, there was so much beauty to equal it out. Cue the universe’s synchronicities and all the cardinal sightings.

Six years ago, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer for the first time at age 24. They found spots in my lungs after only being six months into remission. It was truly devastating! I was back in school full-time, working full-time, and trying to regain some normalcy.

But life had other plans for me.

I went through diagnostic test after diagnostic test to confirm it was cancer. Indeed, I would be facing my mortality once again. I will never forget the words my oncologist spoke to me after I received my first three treatments, “There are 7-9% of women who experience a complete interval response to treatment. You are one of those 7-9%. You don’t have any evidence of disease.”

I knew I had been given such an incredible gift and that I must not waste this second chance at life. What I didn’t expect was to find my voice as loud as I’ve made it. I stumbled across Cervivor through a hashtag on Instagram – I didn’t see this as a coincidence. I fundraised my way to Cervivor School in 2017 where I flew out to Delray Beach, Florida and learned how to use my voice in advocacy. The rest is history.

I’m still processing through many of accomplishments that I’ve experienced over the last five years including the idea that I’ve graduated three times despite my diagnosis and treatments, and that I’ve reached my first big cancerversary milestone. I’ve jumped at every Cervivor opportunity to be a part of change from cancer panel speaking opportunities to proclamation signings with Iowa’s governor for Cervical Cancer Awareness Month (January) to volunteering with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACSCAN) to protect or improve policies related to cancer care. I also serve as a leader with Above and Beyond Cancer to make the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) community visible locally. Because of this work, I’ve been given three awards from Cervivor, ACSCAN, and Above and Beyond Cancer.

I know I wouldn’t be able to do this work alone, it takes a village to make a difference – to make change happen. It is exhausting and it can take a toll but it is also truly rewarding to see our impact taking place across the globe. I’ve met so many resilient and passionate advocates (along with their family members) – some are still with us while others have succumbed to their diagnoses. As a survivor and patient advocate, I had to accept and understand that this was going to be a common occurrence in our community but it didn’t make it suck any less.

However challenging this work may be, I wouldn’t trade this personal and professional growth for anything. Here’s to 5 years cancer free!

Morgan is a metastatic recurrent cervical cancer survivor, a 3x award winning patient advocate, and our Community Manager for Cervivor. She resides in Iowa with her boyfriend, Tony, their cat, Jeezy, and dachshund, Sassy. Morgan continues to advocate tirelessly in hopes her story can help others.