As told to Britt Julious
I was first diagnosed in January of 2010, and I basically thought I had a cold.
When I went to [my doctor’s] office, he did some blood work. He and I are friends, and he had tears in his eyes, and he said, “I think you have leukemia. You need to get to a hospital right away to find out.” I ended up going to [Cook] County Hospital, and that’s where I ended up finding out I had leukemia.
It was extremely overwhelming at the time because I had lost all of my jobs due to the downturn of the economy. I had no medical insurance. I didn’t really have family support when I was diagnosed, so it was probably the most devastating thing that happened to me in my life other than losing my mother.
Learn who you are. Find out what makes you happy. You’ve got to learn to channel your own energy to heal yourself from your core.
I was really dealing with a lot of emotions and negative thoughts and feelings, but I never stopped working through the entire process. What people must understand [is] when you’ve been diagnosed with an illness, you’ve got to continue to keep moving. And you must work on faith and help your spiritual growth. Learn who you are. Find out what makes you happy. You’ve got to learn to channel your own energy to heal yourself from your core.
I’ve been in remission now for over six years. If my blood stays clean for a year, we’re looking to diagnose me as cancer-free. Despite this, I’ve had so many issues as a result of the medicine [I still had to take] and the effects of the leukemia. One is joint pain. I’ve suffered with depression, anxiety, and sleep apnea. Last year, I decided [on] a holistic approach of not taking the cancer medicine anymore, and we’ve seen a great improvement in my health since I stopped.
A lot of people are diagnosed, and they just want to curl up and die. You’ve got to really fight for yourself to stay alive. You’ve got to do your due diligence of finding ways to stay healthy. I’ve increased my level of meditation, yoga.
My entire time in the media business, I’ve been an ambassador of happiness. When I got ill, people ran, so I had to learn how to practice what I’ve talked to other people about for years. Now, doing my radio show every night brings me joy. Don’t give up. Find joy and happiness in everything you do. Count it all as joy.
