From Victim to Victory

Age 29, vibrant and full of life, I was diagnosed with cancer - Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Stage II. After the initial shock of this terrifying news, I knew I had a choice to make. I could either spend the next 9 months of chemotherapy treatments with all its lovely side effects in fear, feeling sorry for myself and playing the victim, or I could choose to go from fright to fight and victim to victory. I chose to fight back for victory. I never realized in that moment how the many lessons I learned through my cancer journey would help me later on with other health struggles.
Age 39, at my heaviest weight ever, and in fear for my health, I knew it was time to fight back once again, only this time to overcome my struggles with eating, weight and poor lifestyle management. To continue putting on weight was suddenly not an option. Knowing how many health problems are diet, weight and lifestyle related, such as diabetes, heart disease and many more including many forms of cancer, I had to ask myself how I could possibly continue along my unhealthy path, especially given my existing cancer history. I knew it was time to take stock of my relationship with food and how I was living my life. It was time to start doing a better job of looking after ME. I live every day knowing the possibility of my cancer coming back in one form or another, but I chose to do whatever is in my control to at least minimize the risks. For me that included gaining control of my eating, weight and outlook toward myself, others and the world around me. After all, if I could triumph over cancer, surely I could overcome my weight issues. The only reason I could think of now for how I let myself put on all those extra pounds over those years was that I was probably thinking things like “Hey, I just survived cancer, I DESERVE that piece of chocolate cake. I DESERVE that big bowl of ice cream.” I was using food as my drug of choice as so many of us do when we turn to food for comfort and solace. Well, after enough years of that thinking and that eating, it had finally caught up with me. And so my healthy eating and positive living journey began. Follow me this week as I take you through my journey.

Roslyn Franken is an Ottawa Author, Speaker, Weight Loss Coach and Radio Host committed to helping people make positive changes for lasting results to how they look, feel and thrive in their lives. She is the author of The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living, host of How to Thrive after 35 Talk Radio and co-author of Death Can Wait: Stories from Cancer Survivors. For more information, visit www.roslynfranken.com.