The Journey of Transformation — ‘Emotionally, Mentally, Physically, Spiritually’ — Survivors Reflect on Life After Breast Cancer

“I actually was just having this reflection the other day of thinking about how my life might have been completely different,” shares breast cancer survivor and content creator Anna Crollman, 38.

“Before cancer, I was in a completely different career. I did not have children. I was a newlywed. And so now seeing myself thriving in a totally different marketing career that I wasn’t necessarily imagining or preparing for, having two children being in the space and just feeling so happy with my life now, it’s hard to imagine how the path might’ve been different without cancer.”

“While I wouldn’t wish cancer upon anybody, I’m also just so grateful for the after, grateful for that opportunity and how it’s turned out for me,” adds Crollman, who is the founder of My Cancer Chic, a lifestyle page that inspires and empowers women who have been diagnosed with cancer.

“Life will never be the same,” chimes in Irene Hong, 37, a New York City native and finance professional. “I am now Irene 2.0 instead of the old Irene, and that’s okay. I went from a very finite mindset, especially being in 15 years of Wall Street, strategic finance, corporate world, and then transitioning to now a more flexible life of having an infinite mindset.”

Nursing school administrator Amy Knowles, 59, led a life of activism far before she received the diagnosis herself.

“I grew up with cancer in my life. I always had the greatest admiration for my mom who then had breast cancer. I am so grateful because she taught me that there is hope, there is strength. We pull together,” she says.

‘I’m Just So Proud of Her’

Conversely, for fitness coach and founder of Cancer Baddies, Amanda Butler, 35, because she had no family history of breast cancer, not to mention being in “peak” health at the time, her news “came as a big shock.”

“But I’m so grateful because I feel like I started with such a full cup when going into treatment, and I did a year and a half of treatment. So by the time I finished, I was at half a cup.”

Feeling compassion for people “who can’t share the same experience as myself,” it helped put things into perspective, she adds.

The fitness coach and influencer then went deeper, sharing a heavy issue she has faced in her past. “I spent a big part of my life hating my body.”

“Now at the end of this entire journey, when my body’s been through so much, I’m just so proud of her and I never talk badly about her,” Butler says of her monumental metamorphosis.

The cherry on top? The Cancer Baddies support network founder says she is “healthier and probably in better shape than I was before.”

A Clinical Perspective on Survivorship

NYU breast oncologist, Dr. Danielle Seidman, was also on hand to explain survivorship from a clinical perspective — and what she sees as a whole from her patients.

“The truth is, being a breast cancer survivor starts the moment you are diagnosed. So survivorship is really everything that comes afterwards,” Dr. Seidman says.

Following the “active part of treatment, which is — you guys all know better than I do — incredibly difficult to get through … there’s no going back to how you were before,” she acknowledges, adding that “learning to trust your body is incredibly difficult.”

Butler weighs in again from a survivor’s perspective: “There’s a big part of this that no one tells you about.”

“You’re dealing with all of these changes, not just biologically, but emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually. And I think survivorship is a big part of undoing that and coming back to yourself and really grounding yourself and being like, who am I?”

While Dr. Seidman says “it’s okay to have that fear,” she stresses that “you can’t live in that fear forever. And learning to trust your body takes time.”

Content independently created by SurvivorNet with support from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

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