Sharon’s Story

Sharon was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer this year. When asked about her cancer story, she shares, “It was very fast. They did a biopsy on Monday, on Wednesday they told me I had cancer, on Friday I had surgery and the following Monday I started chemo.”
Sharon describes herself as a lifelong optimist, which helped with the startling diagnosis. “I think what helped a lot was that everyone was so optimistic up front.” Sharon shared the tumor was small and they were able to quickly form an individualized treatment plan. “The cancer team always made me feel important. I know the chemo [treatment] is [personalized] for each patient. They would always reiterate they were getting my meds ready not just getting meds ready. It makes me feel important.”
Prior to chemotherapy, Sharon expressed her personality through fun hair colors, such as purple, blue, or sometimes multicolored. Unfortunately, one of Sharon’s side effects was that she lost her hair. “I touched it and a handful of it would fall out.” Thankfully, her niece is a beautician and helped shave her hair for her. Through this campaign, we were able to highlight one of Sharon’s favorite features by bringing back a vibrancy through flowers, where her colorful hair was once a symbol to her.
When asked what life changes Sharon had experienced since being diagnosed, she shares how her overall mindset evolved. “My children and I have wanted to go on a cruise for several years and now we are all going. I decided we have to do it now, we can’t wait. We will head down to the Caribbean next winter. Don’t put off what you want to do, just do it.
Don’t put it off because you never know what’s going to happen.”
Sharon has the following advice to someone with a recent diagnosis, “Be positive, that helps a lot. It doesn’t matter what happened here, you can’t change it.”