The first time I noticed something was off, it started with pain in my right breast. When I touched my breast, I felt a small lump there. I feel constant pain.

When the doctor told me it was Stage 3 breast cancer, I felt powerless, vulnerable and sad. The doctors explained that there was hope and a chance of survival if I responded well to treatment.

After the diagnosis, I found my lifestyle changed a little. I started eating a healthier diet every day but I exercised less.

My doctors put together a comprehensive treatment plan for me. They recommended a combination of mastectomy, lymphadenectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The antineoplastic monotherapy I was on was low in toxicity. I also had a catheter implanted.

For chemotherapy, I was on doxorubicin, paclitaxel (also known as Abraxane), carboplatin, and capecitabine. To support my treatment, I was also on pain medication, ondansetron, pegfilgrastim and diphenhydramine, an antihistamine. After making the decision to start, I felt relieved, motivated and hopeful.

Right now, I’m in remission, but still continuing low-toxicity antineoplastic monotherapy.

In addition, I also sought some alternative treatments. I explored traditional Chinese medicine, and took nutritional supplements. I also tried biomagnetic therapy.

I didn’t experience any significant side effects from the treatments. However, I faced some issues financially as I had to stop working. My profession involves working on a computer, which was not feasible given my condition. There were also delays in the payments for my disability benefits from my health insurance provider and the pension fund.

I continued the healthier diet, and now started to exercise much more frequently. I talk to and visit my parents a little more often as well.

As I am still undergoing treatment, I haven’t really made plans with my family, but we do meet to get together and spend time with them. For myself, I plan to travel, go out, and spend time with friends and family, and just be happy. What motivates me is being able to travel the world, continue my education and spend more time with my friends and family in the future.

My biggest fear was dying without being able to reach my personal and professional goals and aspirations. To get through this, I relied on lots of faith, prayer, interacting with positive people, doing things that occupied my mind and made me feel useful.

Now, I feel surprised and optimistic. The progress I've made has been incredibly satisfying, especially since many medical explanations couldn't account for it. I'm not just hopeful; I'm confident, feeling more courageous, and thankful for every bit of progress.

First of all, it’s important to understand that we are human beings and that we have a life cycle, as science has shown: we are born, we grow, we reproduce, and we die. We must pause and reflect on the journey we have taken and what we have achieved according to our dreams from an early age to where we are now. A cancer diagnosis is not synonymous with death. Say that we are going to live with a flu, and continue life as if today were the last day, healing our inner selves of anger, sadness, and any negativity that holds us back from happiness. We must forgive, release our attachments, fears, material possessions, understand that we are in this world for a purpose, and enjoy each day to the fullest, giving our best to give a little bit back to nature. We should not fear death.