Nice to meet you, I'm MELINDA

About me

Until my cancer diagnosis in 2019, I was a fairly private person. Initially when I was diagnosed, I was so afraid to share what was happening. The fear of what other people would think was overwhelming. To be honest, I have always been way too worried about other people's opinions of me. I imagined that people would think less of me, see me as weak, and no longer see me... for me. My image of strength used to be going through something awful and just moving forward as fast as possible. I soon began to share more and more, and quickly found strength and solace in vulnerability and the ability to reach others going through a similar situation. I realized that there are a lot of things people don't talk enough about, and that there is so much value in our shared experiences. Over the years I have oscillated between over-sharing and keeping everything to myself and feel like I'm honing in on a happy medium.

It has now been six years since my diagnosis and I am 34 years old, located in Southern California. I am married to my best friend who keeps me laughing 24/7 and am a mom to two beautiful little girls Olivia (age 8) and Emelia (age 6) and our latest addition, our son Liam. I have been a Registered Nurse for 11 years, having worked in ICU, Pre-op/post-op and Cardiac Rehabilitation.I believe that being a nurse brought a unique perspective to being a cancer patient, and being a cancer patient has brought me to have a unique perspective as a nurse. I have recently taken a hiatus from working as a nurse to focus on myself and my family.

I have been through so many extremes mentally since becoming a mother and having cancer along with a lot of major setbacks. I don't want the suffering I've been through to be in vein. I want to help people in any way I can through my experiences and that is my goal by sharing these stories from my life.