Let it Give You What You Need

I AM MORE THAN CANCER

Thriving Through Terminal Cancer Twice. Cancer is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I am a performing artist and 2x lymphoma and brain cancer survivor. I was diagnosed when I was 18-years-old and at 26-years old, I am now 5 years in remission and 7 months cancer free!

My first journey took me through chemo, radiation and 16 surgeries. During this time, I chose to stay in full-time music school as I knew I needed to continue doing what I loved rather than sitting in a hospital bed waiting to die.

After going into remission for 2 months, I was diagnosed a second time and deemed terminal. I decided not to continue treatment, so I could live out my time feeling fully myself. I began to adopt the perspective that if this cancer was meant to kill me it would, and if it wasn’t meant to kill me, it was meant to teach me a lesson. So I decided to find that lesson, learn through it, and apply it to my life.

I began therapy, working through losses I’ve had, childhood traumas, depression, and suicide attempts. I also started thinking of the science of my body and how I could create an environment that cancer cells couldn’t live in, such as making my body alkaline and my blood oxygenated.

Cancer is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It has given me the ability to love myself, to ask for help, and to heal wounds that held me back from feeling worthy of love. Being in remission and looking “healthy” now to others can turn this into an isolating and invisible disease. So as a survivor, I feel it is my responsibility to give support to those still fighting, honor those who have been taken, and spread awareness to our supporters.

[mashshare]

ABOUT Arianna

Bio

  • Los Angeles

Diagnosis

  • Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
  • Brain Cancer

Primary Treatment

  • Chemotherapy

Primary Cancer Center

  • Other

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