About Us
How It Started
The seed of Stories of Strength was sown when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2020 – I just didn’t know it at the time. Having gone through two surgeries, 24 rounds of chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation therapy, I felt worn out. I had stayed so positive throughout everything, but I honestly felt like a soldier returning from the war – broken. Still the same but not really. No one understood that although the treatment was over, it really wasn’t truly over. The side effects stay with you for a long time.
I’m a writer. I write content for business proposals and bids – so I wrote an article on LinkedIn relating how I tackled my cancer to the way I work as a proposal manager. I wrote that my deadline was met, treatment was done, scans and blood tests were clear and that I was so happy to be finished with it all. You can read my story here: <Link to article> Writing my story down was a great way for me to process what I had gone through, and I found that it inspired so many people that read it, which made me really happy. To me it was an open and shut case – I had breast cancer, did everything I needed to do, stayed positive, and I had won – end of story.
I had one year’s reprieve, then fast–forward to June 2022 and my scans picked up cancer on the other breast. Luckily only at Stage 0. This news was so unexpected and was totally gut-wrenching! I felt totally defeated; I had done everything and truly believed that I had beaten it. Nothing anyone said made a difference to me. Stupid words like “you’ve done this before; you can do it again” made me want to curl up and die or punch them in the face. I did not want to do this again. Knowing what I had to go through again made it 1000 times worse.
It took an incredible amount of bravery to ride this storm again; the biggest wave was learning to trust myself and my beliefs again. And yes – I had the pity party, the why me and the tears and frustration that came with it. But I’m not ashamed – sometimes you need to hit the bottom to pull yourself up again. I took control and made the decision to have a bi-lateral mastectomy and reconstruction.
This took a lot out of me. I had complications which resulted in a total of nine surgeries. It was exhausting recovering, healing and then doing it again – over and over. I really needed time to catch my breath – so I wrote another article. It helped me to process how I felt, and the healing began. The human body is amazing, and the strength comes from deep within.
My story helped me heal. This is where I came up with the idea of writing other people’s stories. I have met the most awe-inspiring people during my journey – all of us with different diagnoses and different treatments. We are all different and our stories are different, but we share a strength that is unparalleled.
Cancer, chronic illness or any trauma is a mental marathon, and I hope that by helping you tell your story I can also help you heal, inspire others and show you how incredible and strong you are.