Member Stories: Meet Stephanie

October 1, 2022

The theme of A Calendar to Live By 2022 is Perseverance. All 12 women who grace its pages have honest, inspiring stories of perseverance to share with readers -- as well as words of advice for other young women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Read on to get to know more about Ms. October 2022.

Ms. November 2015   |   Diagnosed at 31 (2013)

Since appearing in A Calendar to Live By in 2015, Stephanie has experienced firsthand what perseverance means in her life. Just after she enrolled in nursing school in 2013, she was diagnosed with breast cancer (her mother and both grandmothers had lived through breast cancer). She had to push off starting school for a semester. Then, while working on her degree and working full-time, she and her husband divorced, so she had the added stress of being a single mom to young two daughters. “My determination and perseverance grew – I was not going to fail them. I was going to finish school and show them you can complete anything you set your mind to.” About 5 years after she started classes, she graduated. She now is an operating room nurse working with oncology surgeons and patients, just as she’d always wanted. She went from renting a small place to owning a home with enough space for her daughters (and her mom) to have their own rooms.

Stephanie believes she is living the words of her favorite Bible verse, Romans 5:3-4, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Stephanie has this advice for survivors: Just take life one breath at a time. The world might feel like a tilt-a-whirl, but even that ride eventually rights itself and you can step out with a sense of exhilaration and excitement!

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