I’m Too Healthy To Have Cancer : How Could This Happen To Me?

Being a personal trainer and health coach has caused me to be very health conscious.

Even before my own weight loss of 30 pounds back in 2009, I was always diligent about seeing my doctor for regular screenings. I admit that I’d make an appointment if I even imagined I had something other than a common cold so it was a shock when I was diagnosed with DCIS stage 0 breast cancer. Admittedly, I had mixed emotions: shock and gratefulness.

I was in shock because I assumed I had an armor of protection from disease because of my eating habits and regular exercise.

I mean, I’m a personal trainer for God’s sake! I eat like a bird, most of the time. I was also very grateful that my cancer was found at stage 0 and it was noninvasive, or it doesn’t spread.

Of course, I wracked my brain trying to figure out how this could happen to me.

I felt a sense of shame and fear, along with a dose of impostor syndrome.

How could I encourage and inspire other women to create a healthy lifestyle when I’m the one who developed breast cancer? It felt like all of my work to stay healthy had been in vain. I questioned my diet, my exercise, my deodorant, my makeup, the slight char that I love on a grilled hotdog. Heck, now I questioned the hotdog itself. I was truly a hot mess! I quickly gained nearly 10 pounds from the time I was diagnosed until right after my lumpectomy to remove my 2.5 cm cancer. It was stress eating at its finest.

Thankfully, I pulled myself together and decided that a pity-party wasn’t going to help things. I started back exercising when my breast was no longer tender. Intermittent fasting and meatless days had been my recipe for keeping my weight in check so I jumped back into my normal routine and shed 10 pounds within a month.

After reading lots of stories of other brave women, I now believe that a diagnosis of breast cancer is more mental than it is physical.

We have amazing science and doctors who know how to treat this dreadful disease. But we, the super-emotional creatures that we are, cannot let our minds defeat our bodies. That was my stance.

I realized that breast cancer can happen to any of us and no one can control that demon.

However, I can continue to be the best version of myself by being good to my body with fitness and healthy nutrition. It really doesn’t matter if you’re “fit” or not. We should all love ourselves enough to get yearly screenings because early detection saves lives.