05/08/2026
My phone rang and everything changed.
I was wrapping up work at a small white desk — papers everywhere, just about to log off — when "NCH Hospital" flashed across my screen. What followed was a two-minute conversation that sent my entire world spinning. You are positive for cancer. I was 30.
I remember hanging up and sitting in the silence, unable to form a single coherent thought. How do I tell my son? Will I live? Cancer? At 30?
Five years later, I can tell you that silence eventually lifted.
Year one was survival mode. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually... cancer has a way of depleting every category at once. There's no sugarcoating that part.
But here's what five years teaches you that one year can't quite yet:
The fog clears. The strength comes back, different but real. The emotions stop feeling like a storm and start feeling like weather. And that trust in something bigger than yourself? It quietly becomes your foundation.
I'm not the same Diana who sat at that desk. Honestly, I'm grateful for that. She was strong enough to survive. This version of me gets to actually live.
If you're in the early chapters of your own hard story, whether it's a diagnosis, a loss, or a life that looks nothing like you planned, I just want you to know: the page turns. Keep reading.
Five years cancer free. 🤍 And just getting started.