From the Ground Up

Rebuilding your life after a kick in the gut is all about your mindset. 

BY Dana Stewart

PUBLISHED December 05, 2019

Dana Stewart was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 at the age of 32. She is the co-founder of a cancer survivorship organization called The Dragonfly Angel Society. She volunteers as an advocate and mentor, focusing on young adults surviving cancer. She enjoys writing about life as a cancer survivor, as well as connecting survivors to the resources, inspirations and stories that have helped her continue to live her best life, available at www.dragonflyangelsociety.com.

Let’s face it. A cancer diagnosis is a massive kick in the gut. We don’t walk around thinking about or preparing for the phone call where we first hear the words “you have cancer.”  So when that call comes, it’s a knockout punch. Personally, I felt as if I was standing about two inches tall, staring up at my life from the ground. I felt like I was an action figure in a video game, in the very last round facing the evil villain that somehow stands 25 feet tall and larger than life. All I had was one measly weapon and maybe a few bonus energy surges. How could I possibly think I had a chance at beating this supervillain and becoming champion? In this case, the villain was cancer, and I felt defeated before I even had a chance.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer 9 years ago at the age of 32. I lived in a dream world where only people with family histories of breast cancer ended up getting it and no one under the age of 40 could possibly get breast cancer. I mean they don’t even allow mammograms until you turn 40, so there is no possible way I could get it so young. Oh, to be that naïve again!  Well, the lump did form. The mammogram before 40 did have to happen. The call with those three terrible words did come in. And the punch in the gut really hurt.

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