Tough Enough to Wear Pink

The Center of Emotional Wellness has been a tremendous help and support to me during my journey to healing from cancer. With the help of my counselors, Terra Durdon, and now Kelly Jones, with their warm and kind instructions, l have developed a greater understanding of emotional and spiritual healing. Today, l am more in touch with a trusting, loving and healing God. I also continue to remember the practice of daily meditation to bring relaxation and to practice positivity. Everyday I am mindful to recognize healthy boundaries and acceptance. I am grateful to God, and to the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Program for the instructions and support l receive from my life coach and counselor. 

- Susan Byrd

My name is Brittany, I am a 25-year-old Thyroid Cancer survivor. My cancer journey began on my 23rd birthday. Since then, I have had a total thyroidectomy, a full neck dissection, and a partial tracheal resection. I have done multiple rounds of radioactive iodine as well as 30 days of external beam radiation. During my journey I realized that the worry and anxiety of things were not just there, but I was consumed by it. I started to put my faith in God that no matter what I will be ok. Before I began external beam radiation, I was informed about the things that could happen and all the side effects from least likely to most common. When I went home, I prayed. I asked God to show them what he could do, and I asked him to protect me through my treatments. He did just that. I only had one side effect that lasted but healed very quickly. But that was not my only blessing.

Before beginning my treatments, I was given the contact information for the Wise Health Clinic – Center for Emotional Wellness. It was kind of funny to me because even though my faith was helping me with my worries and anxieties, I still did not have the tools I needed to be healed emotionally. I already knew I wanted and needed help with that, but I did not know where to start and if I would feel comfortable talking about my feelings and how I deal with things to someone I didn’t know. Contacting them was one of the best decisions I have made, not only for myself, but for my family and friends. It has helped me learn how to communicate in a healthy way instead of keeping everything bottled up inside. I have learned many things from my amazing life coach, one of the things that has helped me the most is listening to myself, loving myself, and being there for myself. I truly believe that anyone thinking about joining this program should at least give it a shot. It has made a huge impact and changed my life for the better.

- Brittany Barry

When I found out I was diagnosed with cancer on November 29th, 2022 I thought my life was ending. I got the call while I was in the car with my 5yr old at the time and I completely lost it. A phone call no one should ever have to receive especially with a young child near.

Immediately my mind went to the worst. I thought I would be dead by 45 (I was 43 at the time of diagnosis). I thought my girls (5 & 21) would go through life without me and I wouldn’t be alive to see all their milestones and suddenly I was just going to cease to exist and no longer be on this planet. There was a period of around 2 weeks where we didn’t know the staging or severity of what the cancer was at. For some reason I was focused on 45 being the year I would suddenly cease to exist.

Medical treatment started immediately from scans to port placement. By December 30 I started my first infusion of chemotherapy. I felt alone (while I was not), in my thoughts, fears and emotions. I had a great community of family and supporters there to help me every step of the way. But I was still alone. At the end of the day alone in my thoughts, and in the quiet. So many things that I didn’t want to say because I knew everyone around me was hurting from my diagnosis as well. I was devastated that I was a stage 3 cancer patient that would need chemotherapy, a double mastectomy with a lymphadenectomy and a delayed reconstruction.

It was extremely painful to be the youngest one in the waiting room full of people in various stages of treatment, most of them all many years older than I. It was depressing to give my labs every other week and do scan after scan, treatment after treatment knowing I was battling for my very existence on Earth.

Enter the Tough Enough to Wear Pink program. I found the program in the knick of time. Right as I was going through chemo infusions, I found a safe haven. People who understood what the trauma of battling for your life means and how having cancer affected the whole family. I have been able to process my feelings and emotions as they happen, which has allowed me to have a positive outlook on life as well as fight the disease with an open heart. I have not experienced harboring any resentment that I at 43 was diagnosed with cancer. No why me questions, all because I have been able to work through everything that has come up while on this journey. From self-image, to personal relationships, to changed family dynamics to the struggle of self-image post bilateral mastectomy I have been able to work with an amazing therapist. I can’t thank Twisted X enough for sponsoring such a wonderful program that caters to breast cancer patient holistically. I am in such a good place because of this program. I love that as a survivor I am still able to participate in the therapy to help with the residual fear of recurrence and dreaded scans. I hope this program continues to be a beacon of light and hope for families going through the darkest period of our lives.

- Lauren Escalante

My name is Diane Peterson, and I am a breast cancer and cervical cancer survivor. I was 43 years old when I went for my well woman exam and my doctor also wanted me to start getting a mammogram. I had no signs or symptoms and was feeling good – I always get an annual well woman exam so this visit was just routine. A week later my GYN called me to tell me I had an abnormal pap test and a spot on my right breast. I was shocked – I have no family history of either. After further tests and biopsies were done both were malignant and I had numerous surgeries along with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

My children were ages 4, 5 and 7 and it was a very emotional, stressful time in my life and the life of my family. At this time in 2003 there was no counseling centers for this process to be able to vent and express how scared I was for myself and the future of my family. 5 years later my cervical cancer came back and again it was chemotherapy, radiation therapy and at end of treatment they implanted radiation pellets next to the tumor for several days.

At this second round I was newly divorced and had moved to a new place with my children to start a new life when the reoccurrence occurred. Again, how I wished there was a Center that dealt with those of us who were given this terrible diagnosis so we could grieve, vent, have someone to help us with all the emotions related to receiving this diagnosis as well as my children to also have someone to talk to. The school counselors were very caring and supportive but are not trained in this type of counseling. When I would say something to my oncologist about my grief, they whipped out their prescription pad to write a prescription for depression when what I needed was someone to talk to and help me emotionally with this process.

It has been 21 years cancer free from breast cancer and 16 years cancer free from cervical cancer. It has been a huge impact on our community having Twisted X start up the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Flagship counseling center for cancer diagnosis patient’s and their families to have someplace to get the emotional help they need going through this process. The word has spread, and this Center also does Telehealth sessions to those who do not live in this area.

Thank you, Twisted X, for your generosity in this much needed area of care for those who are going through this journey in their life.

- Diane Peterson