Diagnosed with breast cancer at 19 and then again at 24, Gianna's story is a powerful testament to resilience in the face of unimaginable challenges. This episode delves deep into the raw realities of navigating a young adult breast cancer recurrence while simultaneously raising a toddler. How do you find the strength to parent through debilitating chemotherapy? What questions should you be asking your doctors that no one tells you about? Gianna shares the invaluable lessons she learned about self-advocacy, support systems, and finding the right resources that made all the difference the second time around.
In this profoundly honest conversation, Gianna shares every detail of her journey. We explore the initial shock of a Stage 1, HER2-positive diagnosis at just 19 years old, the difficult decision-making process around egg preservation, and the miracle of her son’s birth. Gianna then walks us through the heartbreak of a recurrence five years later and the immense difficulties of going through chemo with a toddler. She offers a vulnerable look at how her support system evolved, from texts and flowers the first time to friends cooking meals and providing childcare during her second battle. A significant part of our discussion focuses on the difficult breast cancer surgery options she faced, candidly explaining her thought process in choosing a single mastectomy over reconstruction to align with her future family goals. Gianna also provides a roadmap for other patients by highlighting the integrative therapies for cancer and the critical financial and support resources for cancer - like social workers at MSK, non-profits like Cleaning for a Reason, and community retreats at Mary's Place by the Sea - that she didn't know how to access the first time. This episode is a must-listen for any young person facing a cancer diagnosis, their loved ones, and anyone looking for inspiration on how to navigate life's hardest moments with grace and strength.
Introduction
Eunice: Hi, I'm Eunice. Welcome to Before Our Visit Ends, a space where we take a moment to get to know the whole person beyond their cancer diagnosis. Along the way, we'll gain meaningful insights on living a life that is not defined by cancer. These stories are sometimes heavy, sometimes unexpectedly light, but always honest.
During this podcast, my guests and I will be sharing personal experiences and discussing medical information. That said, the information we share is based on our own lived experiences, perspectives, and personal understanding. This podcast is not intended to replace medical advice. Please consult your own healthcare provider or licensed practitioner with any questions or concerns about your diagnosis or care. Before our visit ends, it's not responsible for any outcomes related to information shared in this podcast.
Each episode is shared with the hope that someone listening might feel seen, better understood, or more informed. And with that, let's begin today's episode. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for listening to Before a Visit Ends. Today, we have Gianna. Hi, Gianna. Welcome.
Gianna: Hi, thanks so much for having me.
Eunice: I'm so happy to have you today. Could you just tell our listeners about yourself, what life is like for you, and your background.
Gianna: I am a mom of a soon-to-be three-year-old. I am a fiancé since February of 2025, so I'm a new fiancé. And I am an esthetician. I'm a yoga teacher. I kind of dabble in a few different things. I have a lot of different passions.
I am a two-times cancer survivor now. My first diagnosis was in February of 2020 and then the second time January 2025. So I'm still in the middle of my second round here.
Eunice: I imagine that you have your hands really busy with a three-year-old. How is that and going through treatment?
Gianna: I think it is the hardest thing I've ever done, if I'm being honest. And I feel like I've just been doing hard things over the last five years. Having a toddler and moving through treatment, especially the chemo portion, was very, very hard. But I have to say that the people in my life made it feel a lot easier. And if I did not have that support, things would have looked a lot different and I'm sure would have been significantly harder.
Eunice: Yeah, I can't imagine. I know we kind of dove into your diagnosis and we're going to go deep into that. I want to hear more because when we were talking on the phone, we were talking about your studio and your business and your yoga instructing. Can you tell us more?
Gianna: I had a business for two years and a wellness studio. So it was all of the things that I love all in one place. And the reason why I started my business was just to make women feel really good and supported and taught a lot of yoga classes there. I did facials, different wellness workshops, some health coaching as well.
And I had my son around the same time. So there was a part of me that was super naive. And I appreciate that now because if I hadn't been that naive, I probably wouldn't have done it. And I don't have a regret with starting my business. I had never had a baby before. I had never had a business before. So I thought...
Eunice: I think most of us are in the same boat.
Gianna: Yeah. So I birthed two of those things at the same time. I had my son and then my business opened. So it was two really big things happening at the same time. And I was able to manage only for so long. And then I really started to feel the financial weight of everything. And as good as business was going for a startup, it was still really, really hard.
And I can appreciate now, I had to make that really big decision to switch gears a little bit and to stop and say, OK, you know what? I really am craving that consistent income, craving some consistency. And with having your own business, especially a startup, that is just something that was not guaranteed in the beginning. I knew that it was going to be hard, but I think I underestimated it a little bit. It was such a beautiful experience and getting to make the connections that I did while I worked inside of my business. I don't regret that. I can appreciate now just clocking in, clocking out and getting that consistent paycheck and being able to provide for my son.
Eunice: And not being the one wondering where the paycheck is going to come from, but knowing that at the end of the day, someone is going to be able to write it.
Gianna: Yeah, there was that stability with working for someone else.
Eunice: Yeah, I completely understand. We definitely can get into your medical diagnosis and you're pretty young. And I think your story is going to be pretty inspiring, but also hard for maybe people to hear because of how young you are. So how old were you the first time you were diagnosed?
A Shocking Diagnosis: Breast Cancer at 19
Gianna: Yeah, I was 19 when I was diagnosed the first time and 24 the second time. So I was definitely significantly younger than a lot of the women who were that I've heard about having breast cancer.
Eunice: So do you have a family history of breast cancer? And maybe just like going back for the first diagnosis, what prompted you to go get tested?
Gianna: The way that I found it was my son's father actually is the one who found it. It was under my armpit. And at that time, I thought it was just a swollen lymph node. So I wasn't too concerned about it. And I had gone for my yearly exam with my OBGYN and he had done a breast examination. And I didn't say anything about the lump that I had felt because I thought it was just a swimmer. That's how much it kind of just went over my head and I wasn't concerned.
And he didn't feel anything, so I didn't say anything. And so I kind of just kept going. A few months later, it was a little bit bigger and that's when I started to be a little bit more concerned. I remember telling my mom at the time, “Hey, feel this.” She was like, “Alright, I think you need to go back to the doctor.”
And so I did. They sent me to a breast specialist, and right away after he felt it, he was like, “You need to get a biopsy done.” I had a biopsy done, and things just moved so quickly. I went to my OB-GYN. He sent me to the specialist. Specialist sent me for a biopsy. Then it was the news that I had cancer. I was diagnosed with stage 1. I believe it was DCIS.
And so thank God it was localized. It was contained and it hadn't spread to my lymph nodes but because of the type of cancer it was hormone positive so my HER2 receptor was positive and so that meant that it was just a little bit more aggressive. And so they wanted to do chemotherapy, immunotherapy. I had radiation done, I had a lumpectomy.
And in 2025 because it was a recurrence, it was in the same breast same side. This time, I don't know what stage it is. My doctor said clinically, it looks like stage two this time. I found that through a routine mammogram that I go for every, I want to say, every six months. I couldn't do radiation again because I had already had it done the first time. So clinically, it looks like stage two. So we won't know until I actually get the surgery done. So can't do radiation. I have to just go right for the single mastectomy. And I'll be on the immunotherapy for a year and then hormone therapy, which I did not do the first time around just because of the way that it made me feel. And being so young, it felt like I was moving through menopause at 19, 20 years old. So for me at the time, it felt like I had caught it early enough that it felt like the treatment by itself was enough, and it ended up coming back.
Eunice: I'm curious about the first time when you were deciding on treatment because you had chemo. Did they talk to you about egg preservation and what life would look like if you were to go through this treatment?
Navigating Fertility, Treatment, and a Miracle Pregnancy
Gianna: Yeah, so I go to MSK in the Middletown location here in New Jersey, and they're very thorough. I really love all of my doctors and my care team there. They just informed me about a lot of different things. One of those things was fertility and they talked to me about that and they said chemo does increase your chance of harming your eggs. So there's that chance that you may or may not be able to become pregnant after chemotherapy if you choose not to freeze your eggs.
So they gave me the option. It was the pandemic, right? So I was diagnosed in February and then March of 2020, everything was locked down. I remember my surgeon saying to me she's like, “Listen, if this was my daughter, I really wouldn't want her going into another care facility risking exposing yourself to COVID.” At the time nobody really knew anything about COVID and so they were kind of leaning towards not doing it. That was her personal opinion. It wasn't like a... yeah, it was just her personal opinion which I valued a lot at that time.
And I was afraid. So I prayed about it. I was like, if God wants me to have a baby, I'll have a baby, regardless of if I freeze my eggs or don't freeze my eggs. And then luckily, I was able to have my son. I had my son in October of 2022. And that was not planned. But it was a miracle for sure, because I had just been praying for him. I remember having dreams about my son, like six months before I became pregnant. I just had dreams of holding him and nursing him and loving this unborn baby. And then I became pregnant.
Eunice: You went through treatment. Things were fine. You had him. It's almost like a break in between for you to just have this miracle. And then unfortunately, then you got re-diagnosed again this year. But it was almost like a break just for you to have him.
Gianna: Yeah, it does feel like that. And I like the way that you're reflecting that back to me. Sometimes you don't really see things as clearly when you're in it. So to hear that it's like, wow, yeah, that feels really true for me actually.
Eunice: How is it with friends your age? Do you feel like they understand a lot of what you're going through? Like how has support been?
The Isolation of Cancer and Finding True Support
Gianna: Just cancer alone is extremely isolating even when you do have friends and family that love you and want to support you. It's still so isolating because no one truly understands unless they've really been through it. But I will say that my friends have been such a beautiful support system for me throughout all of this.
And it's interesting and kind of funny because the first time around, I feel like I had more people texting me, calling me, sending me gifts, sending me flowers, praying for me, that kind of support, which felt really sweet to be thought of. But this time around, it's a different kind of support. It's smaller. I have my closest friends really showing up for me, really pouring into me, asking me if I need groceries, bringing food over to my house, cooking for me while the week after chemo when I'm feeling really sick, meal prepping for me, watching my son so I can rest on the couch.
Just really, really supportive and I appreciate all of it. I appreciate the texts, I appreciate being thought about, I appreciate being prayed about because I need that too. But to really be shown up for is something I wish and pray for for everyone to have in their life. But it definitely is isolating, especially at my age. And then to also have a son. It's like cancer and then also having a son while going through cancer. And then all of my friends don't have children yet. So there's that added layer of isolation where it's like nobody gets it.
Eunice: You're figuring out going through treatment, cancer, but then also figuring out how to be a mom at a young age.
Parenting Through Chemo: A Toddler's Intuitive Love
Gianna: And I tried to keep things so lighthearted for my son, even when going through all the physical changes, losing my hair. I tried to make everything feel as light as it could feel. And I was like, “Okay, you want to give Mommy a haircut? Today we're going to buzz Mommy's hair. You get to use the buzzer.” I tried to make it fun for him rather than let him in on the heaviness.
I think he already felt that just because I feel like babies are so attuned to their mothers. And he's very intuitive to certain things. Like when after chemo, when I was feeling very sick, he wouldn't even really ask me to get off of the couch because he knew I couldn't. So he would play with my friends. He would easily go with my parents, so they could spend time with him while I rested because he just knew that I needed rest. Which is just so beautiful. And he is, I'm going to cry because I love him so much, but he's so, he's just more resilient than any child should really have to be seeing their mom move through this. And there's so much that he doesn't understand, but there is so much more that he did.
Eunice: The beginning of this podcast is that these stories are sometimes heavy and then sometimes they're light and that's a heavy moment. But then there's also light because he is light. Talking about him is light. They understand so much more than we realize. And sometimes the things that they say back to us are very shocking.
Gianna: Yeah, I was telling him just the other day because I have my surgery coming up and I told him, I'm like, “Mommy has to get a surgery. Mommy's going to have a big band-aid on her chest.” Just so he's not freaked out and just completely alarmed by it when he sees me. But just giving him that little heads up of, “Yeah, Mommy's boobies have a boo-boo. And so the doctor is going to help me to get better.”
And he's looking at me and he's looking at my chest and he's like, he's like, “You're gonna be hurt.” And he started to cry. He's like, “You're gonna be hurt.” And he was, yeah and I'm like, oh my god, then I'm crying. I'm like, “It's okay. The doctor is helping me and this is what Mommy needs to do to get better.” He's just had to roll with it over here and he's been doing such a great job and he's just so empathetic and loving and it's just been really beautiful to have him by my side.
Eunice: It sounds like a gift. So right now, as you're going through treatment, what are some of the things that you've been doing that just kind of brings you joy?
Finding Joy and Community: From Cooking to Mary's Place by the Sea
Gianna: I've been cooking a lot. I really am enjoying cooking right now. I've always liked to cook, but I'm just enjoying it so much. It's really filling my cup to be able to cook my own food and to make my family food and to see them enjoy it. That's bringing me just so much joy.
I tried to pick up crocheting. I have to give her a big shout out because I follow her. Her name is Zoe Barrie and she's on TikTok and she went to culinary art school so she's a chef but she makes these dinner menus for the week. And I just think the way she does it is so genius where she'll give you the entire grocery list of what you need to get and then we have a prep day where she has a Substack and all of her followers and subscribers are inside of it and we all just kind of share the pictures of the meals that we make.
And it's just been a lot of fun for me. Everything is just so delicious. And so we prep everything on the same day. We cut up our vegetables. We make our doughs. We get everything that we need for the week, the sauces and everything. I don't know. They feel like extravagant dinners, but it feels simple.
Eunice: And it's for the whole week.
Gianna: Yeah, it's for the whole week. It's five dinners and I love it so much. And I think a huge part of that is because I wasn't able to eat with chemo. It just made my mouth feel so strange. It's just one of the horrible side effects that it was really hard to get food down. And so I think it was by my last treatment that I just couldn't eat anything. It was an entire week that I didn't eat. And feeling that hungry, I became obsessed with food. Now that I can eat, I'm going to eat and I'm going to eat well every chance that I get.
Eunice: Yes, I love it. Please eat. And they sound really delicious. I'm actually going to check it out. I'll have you text me after. You were going to say about crochet too. I wanted to hear about all the food, but I know you were also going to mention crochet and maybe something else.
Gianna: Yeah, I was saying that I tried it because there were so many days that I was just sitting on the couch doing nothing and feeling like, okay, I need to do something. And so I tried crocheting. I just kept making tiny squares. I can't do anything else. I'm kind of over it already, but I thought I was going to be really into it and I thought I was going to make all sorts of things and maybe I will one day. I don't know. But right now I'm just kind of like, alright, I can make a square and that's about it.
Even my fiancé, we were just joking about it because sometimes I start little things and then two seconds later I'm kind of over it. I'm like, okay, I was really fascinated by it. And now I'm just kind of whatever. So I would make these tiny squares and we would just joke about it that I was making blankets. And there were these tiny little things. And I was like, “Are you cold? Do you need a blanket?” I'd put this tiny little square on him and he'd be like, “Yeah, thanks. Appreciate that.”
Eunice: That's so cute. Have you found a community of other people who are also going through cancer?
Gianna: At first, I was very hesitant to join any kind of support groups or to put myself out there in that way with other people going through the same thing. A lot of it had to do with just being in denial, feeling like, “Oh, no, that's not me. I don't fit in there.” When it's like, yeah, you do. You definitely fit in.
Once I opened up to it, I applied to Mary's Place by the Sea, which is in Ocean Grove. And if you don't know what that is, it's a retreat center for cancer patients. And you get to stay a night or two free. They take care of everything. And you get to do yoga. There's creative writing classes. There's oncology massage. There's so many different offers that they have there that you get to just enjoy. And you get to connect with other women.
And that was one of the most beautiful parts about it was getting to connect with other women who have been through the same thing and feel like, “Oh, I'm not crazy for thinking that. Oh, you thought that, you think that, too? OK.” Just feeling that sense of community and feeling like, wow, I'm not alone, as much as I feel like I am. There are other women battling the same exact thing.
Eunice: I think I'd heard of Mary's Place. I'm glad you mentioned it. And hopefully other people could maybe check them out to have such a community. That's beautiful.
Gianna: It's really beautiful. Yeah. And all the women that stayed there that night, we all made a group chat and we kind of connect through there and stay in touch here and there. Which is so beautiful. It's like you go to just get away and you end up forming such beautiful connections that you carry with you.
Eunice: That's awesome. The first time, or even this time around, it sounds like you have a really great care team. Do you feel like you were able to get a lot of your questions answered and you felt like you've been sort of prepared every step of the way about what's coming and what the treatment is going to be like?
Advocating for Yourself: Unlocking Integrative and Financial Resources
Gianna: Yes and no. My doctor did a great job of informing me about the side effects and things to expect and there was still nothing that was going to ease the anticipation of starting a treatment I've never done before. Just the not knowing. I'm very appreciative of my care team. They were very thorough. But I still think there is that gap of, yeah, well this is still just something I've never done before, so no matter how much or how informed I am, you don't know until you really experience it firsthand.
And they did answer a lot of my questions. But in the beginning, the first time around, I didn't really know what questions to even ask. And of course, if I had questions, they would answer them. But I just don't think I even knew what to ask the first time around. Whereas this time around was so different for me because I did lean into more of the support and more of the resources that they have available to patients that I just didn't know about the first time around. And for example, their integrative therapies, I didn't know that they had that at their facility. And so this time around I asked about integrative therapies. There is a practitioner that they had on site at MSK. And so they introduced me to her. I got to have an appointment with her. And I was able to be supported in a different way outside of just the conventional treatment.
I think that's a good question to ask. Like, are there any integrative practitioners that you can recommend to support me in addition to the conventional treatment plan that you have here? And there's another question too: is there a social worker on site that could support me and provide me with resources? That was something I didn't do the first time around. I just didn't know that it was even an option.
And so this time around, I did work with a social worker and she was able to support me, give me resources, financial resources. There are so many companies, so many non-profit organizations that are willing to help and want to help. And if you just don't know and you don't have access to that information, then you miss out on those things and you might really be struggling and might really need them.
For example, there was one business called Cleaning for a Reason and they offer two free cleaning services for people that are struggling financially. And so that's such a beautiful thing to have someone come in and clean your home while you're not feeling well and good enough to do it. It's just such a beautiful, beautiful thing. So many things like that that I just didn't even know I really needed. It's like I would have never thought to ask for, “Hey, do you have a cleaning service here?” It's like you're not thinking that there's even that option. So that's why anyone that I know going through it, I'd like to share these things because you just don't know what you don't know.
Eunice: You're providing such really great resources. I really appreciate them. And I think our listeners are really going to appreciate them as well. When it comes to the medical questions as well, are there any medical questions that you could think that someone who's newly diagnosed should be asking? The reason I'm curious and really one of the main reasons I wanted to start this podcast is there's a lot of times when this is sort of how we're treating and there are questions around... so you had the cancer the first time. Now you have a recurrence. Are there conversations around what that means that you've asked your doctor, for example? And those are hard questions sometimes.
Making the Hardest Choice: Deciding on Breast Cancer Surgery
Gianna: Sometimes, yeah. Just asking your doctor, what are my treatment options? Maybe there's more than one option. And it's or even asking for a second opinion if something's not sitting well with you and you want to really make sure that treatment option is the best one for you. I think it's important to explore other options if that's something that you're curious about. So asking them, what are my treatment options? What do you recommend?
And then also tuning into your body. What would feel good for me? For example, when I had to consider my surgery, the options there, it was either go flat, it was get implants either silicone or saline, or it was, I forget what it's called, but it's where you take skin from another part of your body and then they use that skin to create a new breast. So there were all of these different options and none of them really felt good to me.
I had to speak with the plastic surgeon, because my surgeon who was doing the mastectomy, she was kind of recommending, yeah, do the reconstructive surgery. And I just wasn't sure if it's something that aligned with my values and what I really want. So I think that's important to ask yourself, especially with surgery, where you have options. Sometimes it's like treatment wise, it's like, OK, if they're recommending to do chemo because your cancer is aggressive, yes, do the chemo. I don't want that to get lost in translation. That is very important to listen to your doctors and what they're recommending.
But asking about options, what are my options here? Do I have any options here? And so I had to speak further with my plastic surgeon because I didn't feel good about just saying yes to reconstructive surgery. I wanted to know what that looked like. What does recovery look like? What are the risks? What are the benefits? And kind of outweighing those myself just to have a more informed choice.
If you have a family, you might choose something different than if you don't have a family. For example, with my surgery, with all of those options, I thought, if I want to have another baby in my future, if God willing, I am able to and I am healthy, then I would love to have another baby and I would love to breastfeed my baby. So keeping one of my breasts was really important to me. And if I had done implants, there was more risk for infection because I had radiation already on one side. And so the risk there, it didn't outweigh the benefit of having implants. If I was going to do implants, I would have wanted to do a little bigger. Okay, great, I guess to have this surgery, might as well. So that was kind of my thought process. And then I'm like, well, then the implants could affect my breastfeeding if that's something I want to do.
And then it was like, okay, let's sit down, let's sit with this. Do you care more about feeding your potential future baby or do you care more about having big fake boobs? And that's just how I was looking at it. Everyone's going to look at it really differently. And if you're someone who you're not considering having children or breastfeeding isn't the most important thing in the world to you, then you may choose the implants and that's great. Whatever aligns with what you value most is going to be the option that you go with.
And I just remember being so conflicted because there was a huge party that's like, well, I do want to feel good about myself, I do want to look good when I look in the mirror. But after talking to the surgeon, there were just too many risks that didn't feel worth it enough. Any of those decisions was going to be hard. I hated all of the options, but going flat felt like the option that aligned mostly with what I care about. Whatever it is, whatever decision you make, you're going to have to process it. So for me, it was, okay, well, this is what I value the most. And okay, great. It sucks. Any of the options would have sucked. So now I just have to process.
Eunice: You're comfortable with the decision that you made because you got a chance to think through the different options and maybe not necessarily just go with one that was mentioned. This is the one option and you just went with it. It sounds like you've really explored the different options. And like you said, if I know I have an aggressive cancer, I know I need to do chemo. Maybe I'm not a doctor to say this is exactly the chemo I need to do, but there's other options in it to allow yourself to be able to be the one that's making some decisions that works for your life and your future. What are you looking most forward to after you're done with treatment? What are you most excited about for the future?
Life After Treatment: Hopes for a Softer, Simpler Future
Gianna: I'm excited to get married. We're excited to start planning. We haven't started planning yet, just trying to get through this year. But it's something that's been giving me a lot of hope and something to look forward to. So I'm excited to start really thinking about that.
And it's really small things, the things that I'm looking forward to. I feel like I've done a lot of big things and a lot of hard things over the last few years that right now, all I'm looking forward to is spending quality time with my family and with my friends. I'm looking forward to getting married. I'm looking forward to building my family. Looking forward to just really normal things. Nothing crazy.
Eunice: Like normalcy to your life every day that maybe for some of us we take for granted but truly it's just having peaceful, no more treatment. And I'm excited for you to be a bride. I'm sure you'll make a really beautiful bride.
Gianna: Thank you so much. Yeah, it's so funny. I was talking to my mom when I was going through treatment and this was on one of the really hard days that I was having physically, emotionally. It was just a really hard day for me. And I remember telling her, if I never have to do anything hard ever again, I'd be really happy. I would be really happy if I just never had to do anything hard again.
And I know how that can sound. It's like, you're in the middle of treatment, you're in the thick of it. Maybe you don't mean that. But I also think that it's really beautiful. The mundane things can be really beautiful, too. That's what I meant. Not that I don't want to keep going or I don't want to have to do something hard. It's like, I just want to live a really soft life now.
Eunice: I completely hear you. Be able to go to work, have a paycheck, to go on vacation if you want to, and just enjoy time with your family. I think that's not asking for too much. So we are coming up on the end of our episode. I am curious if you have any advice, whether it's medical, psychological, anything that you would want to share with our listeners for somebody that is also going through cancer, has gone through cancer.
Gianna’s Final Advice: Trust Your Body and Embrace Foundational Health
Gianna: I say listen to your body, trust your body, tend to your body, take care of it, take preventative measures that are known to preserve your health. Even before the cancer diagnosis, if you just for some reason happen to be listening to this podcast without a diagnosis, just taking care of yourself, it goes so far just to do the really simple things.
And I was talking to my integrative practitioner and nutritionist. And this is something important that I wanted to mention. I remember after choosing to do chemo again, because that was what my doctors recommended, and I really didn't want to. I'd been through it once before. I know how rough it is on my body, and I was really looking for something. I'm like, is there something else? Isn't there something more natural? Isn't there something else I could change about my diet? Is there something that I just don't know about?
And so I was kind of driving myself crazy with that thought of, is this doing more harm to my body than good? And I was talking to my nutritionist about that. She's like, “Listen, I hear you. There are a lot of, there's a lot of noise on social media and just different platforms where you see people saying, ‘Hey, I changed my diet and my cancer vanished. And now I'm living this really awesome life here, do this protocol.’”
And she was like, there is nothing to back it. She said, and a lot of times you're not seeing the full story where maybe they had surgery. Maybe they did have the surgery and maybe they just refused chemo. But maybe their cancer wasn't as aggressive where the surgery was enough, but maybe they didn't share that part of it. And she also had patients where they did want to try the more natural approach. They wanted to change their lifestyle, see if they could do things on their own. She goes, and oftentimes those patients come back and their cancer is worse, and it's spread. Whereas maybe their treatment wouldn't have been as aggressive if they would have just done the conventional treatment that was recommended in the first place.
So I just feel like that's important to share because I got caught up in that and I was beating myself up for choosing the treatment that is known to get rid of cancer. And that has been studied for a really long time. And so I wanted to make sure that was something that I mentioned.
And going back to preserving your health and taking more preventative measures, my integrative practitioner also said, “Listen, it's the nutrition, it's movement, it's moving your body, it's exercise, it's sleep, it's making sure you're hydrated, it's avoiding harmful substances.” She's like, it is those foundational things that have been shown to preserve long-term health and those are the things that are often overlooked and people are looking for, they think that there's something else out there when it's like, they'll come back to the foundation of health and those really simple but often overlooked things.
Early detection, if you're feeling if something feels off in your body, don't ignore that. Get tested for something if you're or go to a doctor and bring it up. Be loud about it. I wasn't the first time around. I was quiet about that because I thought, okay, it's probably not cancer. It's probably not me. And I don't say that to instill fear either. I think that there's that line between, okay, you might hear my story and then go, “I have to go get checked now.” And that's not what I mean. I think it's just when you get those intuitive hits of, oh, something feels off, okay, go. You don't have to just go running out of fear, but if something genuinely feels off to you in your body, yeah, address it. Don't be quiet about it. Just taking care of your body physically, mentally, emotionally.
Nervous system regulation is so important. Stress management has a lot to do with our health. Just different stress management tools. It's interesting because the first time I had cancer, I didn't have these tools. I was into yoga, I was into meditation, but I didn't have the tools that I have now and that I've worked on over the last few years. So getting cancer again the second time, it was more aggressive, the treatment plan. However, I had a better head on my shoulders because of all of the tools I learned, because of the nervous system regulation, because of stress management, because of knowing how to prioritize my body.
This time around, I moved through it with so much more ease, so much less anxiety. And it was because of those things that I chose to educate myself about and to really dive into to help take care of myself, mentally, emotionally, and physically. So that's really important too. If you don't have a diagnosis and you just happen to be listening, it's so important. So then when these big life things do happen, it's like, okay, I can handle this.
Eunice: That is such great advice. Thank you for taking the time to write these down, to try to get these out there for anyone that's listening. I think that it's going to truly, just me listening to you are things that I think I want to take in for myself and really think about. Because like you said, it doesn't have to be while you're sick. It could be before and any time in your life. And it sets you up for success. So really great advice. I appreciate the time to be able to give this type of advice, to be able to hear from you. So thank you so much.
Gianna: Yeah, thank you for having me on. I really appreciate getting to share a little bit of my story here.
Eunice: Although this visit has ended, I hope this story stays with you and you can share it with someone who might need it. Until next time. Take care.