Cristina's Corner is created in memory of Cristina-Liz and is dedicated to the stories of metastatic and triple negative thrivers of color.
Cristina-Liz, a young mother of two boys, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in 2015 at the age of 30. Like many of us, her journey with breast cancer came with ups and downs. But, she refused to let that define her life and how she lived. Cristina loved her family and her friends and when she wasn’t working, she enjoyed cooking, couponing and watching her beloved 49’ers. Anyone who knew Cristina will tell you when you walked into her home, she instantly made you feel like family. Even through treatment, she continued to do these things.
Cristina and Marissa met on Instagram while they were in the middle of chemotherapy. Both longing to find someone who just “got it” without having to explain what “it” was. Through texts and phone calls, they could laugh, cuss, shout and cry; a sisterhood they did not realize they needed, but so glad it happened.
In July 2016, after Cristina and Marissa both completed chemo, they met for the first time in person and immediately clicked! Cristina was always open about her disease with others and even made her Instagram page public so that she could reach other women. She wanted to show that breast cancer is not all pink ribbons, butterflies and rainbows. But a realness that most of us, who are so very private battling this disease can relate to and hardly ever talk about.
Sadly, Cristina passed away July 2018 after finding out the disease returned and metastasized, one year after she completed her first round of treatment. The one thing Cristina taught us, was to continue living your best life, regardless of the circumstance.
I had become the patient; he became the caregiver. He saw me differently. Fragile. In pain. Suffering. All I wanted was to be loved in every way — to be a wife, a lover, a sexual being.
We need to knock and kick down every door possible to let politicians know that this is unacceptable. Money does not need to be spent on making people aware of cancer – we do not need sunglasses and pop sockets and hats and pins.
We need research that produces real results!
I never could have climbed Mt. Whitney without everything I had learned from cancer. You see, the mountain didn’t prepare me for cancer. Cancer prepared me for the mountain.
IBC is real and it doesn’t always appear like a typical breast cancer diagnosis. Pain, swelling, discoloration, change in appearance are all a part of IBC. If any doctor tells you that breast cancer doesn’t hurt, that’s a lie.
When you have a soulmate, you can look beyond all of that and see the beauty and the creation that God designed just for the two of you.
I’ve always been a big believer that things always happen for a reason and God chooses us for those reasons. I know my testimony will be tremendous and will inspire others to fight with all they have.
