Christmas 2016 was the best time of Marsha Woolery’s life and also what she called her last normal day.

“God, I guess it’s my time,” she remembered saying as she felt a lump while obsessing with her breasts in the shower on Boxing Day.

Her mother and cousin lost the fight to cancer and for that reason she did not hesitate to schedule an appointment for her mammogram. A few weeks later, on January 16, a follow-up biopsy confirmed what Marsha knew in her gut — she had breast cancer. This, however, was not just any breast cancer. She had stage 2B triple — negative breast cancer, a rare form of the disease.

On February 21, a little over a month after being diagnosed, Marsha found a new normal. It involved multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and having to deal with the side effects of both. She watched as her body transformed and her womanhood robbed by this malignant disease; her beloved breast, the mark of her femininity, moved from a double D to nothing.

After completing the surgery to remove her breast, she broke down in the shower when she removed the band aids to discover the nothingness that was her bosom beneath. Nothing in her life prepared her for the trauma that would result from this dreaded illness — constant nausea, changes in her taste buds, discoloration, pain, weakness, and a myriad ailments that made her new normal hard to endure.

Apart from physical discomfort, Marsha found that she had lost a great portion of her support system. Family members and friends she had once esteemed fell short of giving the support she required in her time of need. “Sometimes you have to mow your lawn very low so you can see the snakes,” she remarked.

She echoed the words of a dear friend who tried to warn her of the broken relationships that would result from her condition. “Sometimes you have to mow it even lower so you can see the worms,” she expressed as she reminisced on the loss of friendships and family ties.

Thankfully, her children and some close relatives and friends have assisted with making her battle worth fighting. In less than a year of being diagnosed, Marsha is steadily recovering from her treatment and is now cancer free.

Having made the decision to turn this painful experience into a launching pad for new adventures, Marsha is now actively involved in raising awareness. Her run-in with breast cancer has given her a new outlook on life, and she has committed herself to sharing her experience with others.

Each day she reads the lines of this poem as her mantra, having convinced herself that while cancer has changed her life, it still is limited in the things it can do: