Denise DeSimone

Author | Speaker | Mentor | Minister | Podcaster | Documentarian

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Author | Speaker | Mentor | Minister | Podcaster | Documentarian

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I got cancer. I didn’t die. So, I wrote a book.

Before my life dramatically changed, one dreadfully hot Saturday in August of 2005, I was a very active, busy 49-year-old woman with a career as an executive in the high-tech industry. I was on the board of trustees at the local Unity Church I helped start. I was running a part-time healing practice sharing my Reiki, Reflexology and Sound Healing skills. I was always busy with some form of physical activity, basically a gym rat. Add to all this, finding time to be with members of my large Italian family and my huge network of friends. I didn’t have time for cancer.
That Saturday in August was the culmination of months of training, preparing to participate in a 90-mile bicycle ride as a participant with the Pan Mass Challenge organization that is dedicated to raising money for children afflicted with cancer. During the ride, I was in so much pain throughout my entire body, I could barely finish the 90-mile ride. But I did! Only with the help of a ½ bottle of Mylanta, lots of prayer and willpower would I not quit.
Denises Story

Just two days later, I learned I was a few months away from death myself. Days later, I was catapulted into treatment: surgery to implant a feeding tube, exploratory surgery to see exactly where the source of the cancer was, and a treatment protocol that needed to commence asap. It was the beginning of the most challenging and profound time in my life. I lost the ability to eat for a very long time, to speak, and to drink even a sip of water for months. The only ability I had was vulnerability.

Six months later, my oncological surgeon performed a radical neck dissection which meant they removed the entire left side of my neck. Leaving me with several life-long side effects.

The first thing I did was choose to befriend my cancer and not battle it. I had open dialogue with it. I asked many questions and was open to the still small voice that taught me so much.

Using this approach, I learned so many lessons that I have chronicled in my book, FROM STAGE IV TO CENTER STAGE.

The top three lessons:

  • Stop beating myself up for nothing.
  • The more light I could hold, the less room for cancer.
  • The more I loved myself, the less reason for cancer to stick around.

I also share these lessons in depth in my new documentary, FROM STAGE IV TO CENTER STAGE – THE DOCUMENTARY.

My doctors warned me that post-operatively, speaking could be difficult and there were no guarantees that my singing voice would return. One of my greatest joys was singing and playing guitar. Twenty-two months post diagnosis, I sang the National Anthem before a sell-out crowd of 37,000 Boston Red Sox fans at Fenway Park. Two months after that event, I rode 90 miles in my third Pan Mass Challenge, raising over $11,000 for childhood cancer research. I am living proof that the unexpected can be achieved.

From the very beginning, it has been an honor that my journey with cancer has touched many lives in positive ways. From public speaking to supporting people one-on-one across the country, I have become a real-life inspiration and mentor to many. Not only those struggling with cancer, but also many who struggle with the plethora of life’s challenges.

There is a lot more to the story. I am sure there is a lot to your own story. Please join our community of like-minded seekers who want to live L.I.F.E. fully expressed.

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