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She Beat Cancer Twice — Here's What It Taught Her About Life

4 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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1:17

In this interview, Shirley, a two-time breast cancer survivor, recounts her diagnoses and treatment journeys. Her first diagnosis occurred in 2012 when her daughter was six months old, prompting a profound wake‑up call. Twelve years later, after a decade of being cancer‑free, she faced a second diagnosis, which came as a shocking recurrence. Both battles involved chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. Shirley reflects on the hard lessons learned: building resilience, not sweating the small stuff, and cultivating daily gratitude for life. She emphasizes that each day is a gift and that embracing this mindset shapes her personal outlook and career perspective.

Yeah, Shirley, something deeply personal that I do know about you is that you've been a 2-time breast cancer survivor. Tell me a little bit about that and, and how that shaped your perspective on, on your career and personal life, um, going forward.
Yeah, so, Tia, the first time I was diagnosed, my daughter was 6 months old, and it was back in 2012. It was a big wake-up call for me. And then the next time I was diagnosed was in 2004. So it was pretty much 12 years later from my original diagnosis, but I had been cancer-free for 10 years. So the second time came as a real shock. I think the key learnings through both of those, you know, staring death in the face, and I've had some— neither of them were easy journeys. It was chemo, it was surgery both times, radiation, the works. It's taught me a lot of resilience. It's taught me not to sweat the small stuff. And to really have an appreciation for every day that you have in this world. It's a gift. Every day is a gift, and if you can just wake up and embrace it and be grateful for what you have got, that's really how I embrace every day that, that comes my way. I'm just, I'm so grateful to be here.
My gosh.