I was diagnosed with Stage 2A (possibly 3) Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the ripe age of 19 years old. They were never able to tell me exactly what was the cause of my cancer. What a terrible, tragic event: you’re diagnosed with some thing that intrudes into your life, threatens to kill you, and then you don’t even have an answer as to why you have this disease in the first place like it’s some magic surprise you’re supposed to welcome with open arms and say, “Hi, Cancer! I’ve been waiting for you!” Or, do we.

See, the thing with cancer is, it doesn’t just pop up at your doorstep, unannounced, without any cause or reason. Even though, to this day, doctors and medical boards still aren’t 100% sure what causes Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, or my diagnosis. There were, however, reasonable causes leading up to it that I’m sure played a factor in the
disease that manifested its way into my body.

There’s always a tipping point. A time when something shifts, or changes from within, where a person’s life goes from being ordinary, to be extraordinary. Sometimes it’s seismic, the tectonic plates shifting creating vibrations rippling outward that break your external shell. Cancer was one of those “tipping points” for me in my life.

Cancer, like any disease, is like a red flag that something you’re doing is seriously not working. It is literally DIS-ease in the body, or when your body is no longer at ease. Cancer is one of the biggest, “HELLO YO! This lifestyle of yours, this mindset…yeah, it’s no bueno for you!” wake-up calls, or perhaps gifts life can give you—if you choose to see
it that way.

Fortunately, years after my last radiation treatment, I was able to see it that way. It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t immediate, and it certainly wasn’t easy. For years later, I still struggled with an Eating Disorder, Alcoholism, low self-esteem, and no clue who I intuitively was. That took a deeper examination into my internal operations, habits, feelings, emotions and honest TRUTH of who Sara really was — and learned to love HER, just the way she is.

However, I’m here today, to tell this tale, with a much more positive outlook on life, greater health habits, and a different perspective on time, relationships, and what success is. If you’re ready, I’m hoping you can take the faster route from this book, those same learning tools, and also develop a life of greater purpose and health.

It all begins with choice, and that’s a power that only we take action on for ourselves, by ourselves.

The Big C, the big CHOICE, is always yours to take on. And in terms of the Big C, meaning Cancer, while it may have the power to destroy the body, it can never destroy your soul. That is the power only you have, deep from within, to live life the way you wish to its best, healthiest and fullest.

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(Story Content taken and reformatted from published book, “Living Cancer Free: A Warrior’s Fall and Rise Through Food, Addiction + Cancer — And How You Can Too”)

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