In early 2010 I was a 55 year old, seemingly healthy woman. I went to the gym often, enjoyed kick boxing and staying fit.I owned and operated my full time aesthetics business and kept plenty busy with volunteering in the school and community. During a routine physical (chest x-ray) it was revealed that I had a tumor in my left lung. Within weeks I had a complete lobectomy (removal of whole upper left lobe) and was staged at 1B - adenocarcinoma NSCLC. I researched day and night about the condition and treatments discovering that chemotherapy, according to the latest studies, was not recommended for my type/stage of lung cancer.
I started to think about all the things I wanted to do in life that had previously been on the "back burner". The first thing I did was to take my middle school age daughter on a cruise to Bermuda - time to enjoy life as I might not have as much of it as expected left. Next, I started studying Italian language and figuring out how I could take my daughter on a trip to Italy on a shoestring budget. Did it! and in the following summers - Paris, London, Edinburgh, Dublin and a cruise around Greece. All done on a very low budget and fully enjoyed!
Five years later, I'm still here and planning to open a travel business offering women small group travel to Italy. I've made many of my life dreams of travel come true. Cancer has made me stronger! I would have probably never done these things, only dreamed of them without the wake up call. I still keep a little too busy. But I enjoy life to the fullest and contribute as much as possible to as many as possible.
