{"id":3027,"date":"2018-03-08T13:07:37","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T13:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cancerhopenetwork.org\/?p=3027"},"modified":"2023-11-16T11:35:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T16:35:21","slug":"embracing-our-scars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing our scars","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/newly-dx-f-1.png?w=800&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"newly dx f (1)\" class=\"wp-image-3028\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/matchme.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/match-me1.jpg?w=800&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"match me\" class=\"wp-image-2325\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>She\u2019s a survivor, a caregiver and an advocate who\u2019s started a radio show to share stories of hope and recovery. She fought through death (literally!) and depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Malisa\u2019s blog, Embracing Our Scars encourages women as they travel the ups and downs of breast cancer. She\u2019s turned her \u201cpain into purpose\u201d and is \u201cliving the best of my life today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting that diagnosis,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThere was no history of breast cancer in my family. I always was the one who got her mammogram done, so when I got the news I was shocked and in disbelief. This was hard for my family and to everyone who knew and loved me. I was diagnosed in August 2015. I had a double mastectomy on October 19<sup>th<\/sup>, 2015, only to die a few hours after a successful surgery. Till this day the doctors do not know what have caused me to die, but thank God, I\u2019m still here.\u201d<br>As a patient herself, and a caregiver for loved ones who had cancer, Malisa understands the view from both sides of the sheet. \u201cI have learned that when a person is sick all you can do is show them love and compassion by being of service to them. They need a lot of tender care. There were times when the person I was taking care of just wanted me to sit with them and not say anything. A caregiver must have patience!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She fondly recalls one of the most surprising ways a friend helped during her own post-treatment bout with depression. Rather than spend weeks planning a visit from out of state, he waited to call until he was nearly to her house. \u201cAfter he talked with me for a while, he made me get dressed and go out\u2026I did not want to go because of how I was feeling about myself. Before treatment, I had always been very confident in how I looked. That was gone. I was not ready to go out in the world and allow people to see me without any breast. By the time we were halfway through our meal, I began to feel comfortable. That was the beginning of me moving out of my depression into embracing my scars and seeing myself as being a woman and still beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although caregiving and support often includes touching, heartwarming moments like that visit, Malisa also recognizes the reality of caregiving. \u201cSometimes, they are going to have bad days and they might take it out on you. When this happens, we must remember that it is not personal, it is not about us.\u201d<br>Malisa shares her hard-won wisdom with others, \u201cThe best advice I received was to not allow what I had gone through to take over my life. My experience with breast cancer was that it could hold you hostage. You may feel like your life is over and that you are not a woman. That\u2019s not true.\u201d She urges the patients and survivors she counsels to remember \u201cYou have a life to live. Live like there\u2019s no tomorrow.\u201d<br><em>Need perspective? Looking for some encouragement through a tough diagnosis or into survivorship? Get matched with Malisa \u2013 or another Support Volunteer who has been where you are.&nbsp; Click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/matchme.html\">HERE&nbsp;<\/a>or call 877-HOPENET (877-467-3638) today.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life after mastectomy: finding patience, power and purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":23,"featured_media":8727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[107,105,222,98],"post_folder":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.11 (Yoast SEO v21.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Embracing our scars - Cancer Hope Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Embracing our scars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Life after mastectomy: finding patience, power and purpose.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cancer Hope Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CancerHopeNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-08T13:07:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-16T16:35:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Embracing-our-scars.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"816\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"767\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brandon Pantano\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CancerHopeNet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CancerHopeNet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brandon Pantano\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brandon Pantano\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0b4a729980018733a63833ec14c219d4\"},\"headline\":\"Embracing our scars\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-08T13:07:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-16T16:35:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/\"},\"wordCount\":559,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"breast cancer\",\"depression\",\"mastectomy\",\"Survivorship\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Survivor and Caregiver Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/embracing-our-scars\/\",\"name\":\"Embracing our scars - 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