From Heartbreak to Hope: Erica's Breast Cancer Journey | October Awareness Month Special

Erica Newbird-Campbell, a dedicated advocate and breast cancer survivor, joins us to share her impactful journey. She opens up about the heart-wrenching experience of losing her mother to cancer and how it shaped her mission to support children battling the disease. Through our heartfelt discussion, we explore the profound lessons of love, mindfulness, and vulnerability that can emerge from such challenging experiences, and Erica guides us through the emotional terrain of honoring her mother's legacy and finding strength amidst grief.

Our conversation sheds light on the intricate emotions of facing a cancer diagnosis, both personally and within a family. From Erica's own pivotal health decisions to the courageous choices made by others, we delve into the emotional roller coaster of navigating life-altering transitions. The profound impact of witnessing courage in children dealing with cancer and the simplicity of life's true priorities are highlighted, offering listeners a chance to reflect on the shared human experience of resilience and vulnerability.

We also explore the courage and empathy required to support someone through a cancer journey. Erica's insights on advocating for women's health, particularly in the face of medical challenges, provide a powerful framework for listeners. We emphasize the importance of self-advocacy, compassion, and finding a supportive community, particularly during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Each story and shared experience aims to empower listeners to find their inner strength and foster connections filled with empathy and understanding.

Chapters

• 0:02 Surviving and Supporting Cancer Patients
• 9:05 Navigating Cancer
• 19:53 Navigating Grief and Anger
• 26:29 Empowering Mastectomy Journey and Advocacy
• 40:15 Providing Empathy and Support in Cancer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast. I'm your host, nat Nat, and, as you can see in my background, I'm not in my usual space. I am presently in the hospital supporting my friend in the thick of it, and so I really wanted to bring that relatability, that vulnerability, and I also wanted to serve the podcast and not just cancel because there's chaos right now. So I am tapping into my resilience, my adaptability, facing my little bits of perfectionism and also, you know, coming into a space with somebody that I haven't met before, so hoping that there'll be an acceptance. And before we started recording, I am very, very thankful of the universe because I know this is going to be a very deep and profound conversation. So, without any ado, I want to introduce you to our guest, which is Erica Newbird-Campbell. I think I might have fumbled that, but she can correct me. I got it, you got it Okay. So, erica, if you can, let the listeners and myself know a little bit about you.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Yeah, I describe myself several different ways. Number one I'm a breast cancer survivor. I've been cancer free now for six years. I also call myself a cancer orphan, and what I mean by that is I lost my mother to breast cancer 20 years ago and I have felt kind of unmoored and lost and orphaned without her. She was a guiding force in my life and so I call myself a cancer orphan too. But I also I currently lead an organization that helps kids with cancer and their families. So you think it's kind of interesting. I surround myself entirely personally and professionally with cancer and yet, uh, you know, it's, uh, it's a disease that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It is a um, uh, you know, uh, a place of fear and anxiety for many people. But yet I continue to find silver linings in the whole experience, again, from beginning to end, and everything that I do personally and professionally.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Yeah, well, as I said, I'm in the hospital and many listeners, if they're paying attention, they know that I've been supporting my friend that has breast cancer and pancreatic cancer for the past two years and I'm in the hospital because we had a bit of a medical crisis, so we're getting the body strong again. So, before we dive in, because there's a lot of similarities of your story with her story, so before we dive in, would you be willing to come into a mindful moment so that we can ground ourselves in our breath and prepare for you know the emotionally charged and vulnerable conversation we're going to get into. I would love to Okay For the listeners, as you always hear my spiel safety first. So when I asked to close your eyes, if you are driving, please do not. We want safety first, yet the other prompts you're able to follow through. So, erica, I'll ask you to get comfortable in your seating and, if it's safe to do so, I'll ask you to gently close your eyes and you're going to begin breathing in and out through your nose. You're going to bring your awareness to watching your breath go in and out through your nose. You're not going to try and control your breath, you're just going to bring the awareness of watching its rhythm and allowing it to bring you into the body.

Speaker 1: 4:05

There may be some sensations or feelings coming up. That's okay, let them come up. You're safe to feel. You're safe to let go. Surrender the need to control, release the need to resist and just be, be with your breath, drop deeper into your body. There may be some thoughts that have come up or to-do lists, and that's okay. Gently bring your awareness back to your breath, creating space between the awareness and the thoughts and dropping deeper into your body, allowing yourself to just be in the breath Again. More thoughts may have popped up. It's okay. Bring your awareness back to your breath, beginning again, creating even more space between the awareness and the thoughts and dropping deeper into your body, being with your breath, body being with your breath. Now, at your own time and at your own pace, you're going to gently open your eyes while still staying with the breath. How is your heart doing?

Speaker 1: 5:48

much better now I'm very thankful for when I discovered meditation in 2015, it was in the form of tm transcendental meditation. Yet I went more profound of you know, vipassana and being with the breath and regulating that nervous system, and I think we forget to access this many times a day. So that's why I've brought it into the podcast, not just telling people you should meditate, it's inviting them in to take these mindful moments and seeing that, like two minutes, it can do a profound energy clearing for yourself, to have more clarity and, to you know, re-pivot yourself to face whatever experiences or having to show up. One thing I know that I've been having to do in these past 10 years I mean 10 years, these past 10 days well, 10 years also is accessing my breath, to have courage to show up with the vulnerability and the fragility of life. So I would like to ask what is your mother's name? My mother's name?

Speaker 2: 7:00

is.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Joan, my mother's name is Joan, so I want to welcome Joan into the conversation because I am of the belief and I felt it, that death is simply the other side of love and it has a depthness that we're not aware of until we go through that experience. So there's a way of still feeling presence and communication and energy. Therefore, I always invite that space to come in and invigorate and touch myself yourself and also the listeners that need to be empowered in whatever experience that they're in. So I would like to know how was the experience with your mother when she was diagnosed and what did that look like for you, supporting her and going through that as a child.

Speaker 2: 8:01

Yeah, it was quite the roller coaster. It was quite the roller coaster because in the beginning, you know, we used to joke that she had breast cancer light, meaning she was diagnosed at an early stage and her tumor was, you know, sort of less than the size of a pea, and both her and her oncologists and her doctors, I would say, took it lightly and and and really put me in a place of ease, which was great to say this isn't going to be a big deal, she's going to be fine. And so, of course, you know there was an element of trust that I had to put in that, and it wasn't until she relapsed the first time that I started to really frankly have a lot more anxiety about it, because it was sort of like a whiplash, like wait what? Y'all told me, that this wasn't a big deal. Y'all told me to trust you and that she was going to be okay.

Speaker 2: 9:05

And so you know when I say it was a roller coaster, we actually ended up celebrating her cancer-free life four times and then we also experienced the news of a relapse four times, and so you know, it really became an incredible journey of grief, but also a journey of as you mentioned earlier because you're in the hospital resilience and you know I was there when she held.

Speaker 2: 9:39

You know I held her hand as she took her last breath and it was a very quiet moment. It was actually in the hospital, it was simply between the two of us and, despite how hard that four-year journey was, I would still categorize it as potentially one of the most beautiful moments of my life, and the reason I say that is I got a chance to say goodbye. And the reason I say that is I got a chance to say goodbye. You know there's a lot of people that don't get that chance and I got the opportunity to witness kind of her transition into a different world and, like you said, you invited her into this space and I do believe she's with us still. But it was really life-changing for me because you know it's not often you get to see that and not often you get to experience that and I you know as painful as it was, I actually think of it as a gift and it changed who I am today.

Speaker 1: 10:41

Profoundly. Yeah, I think, think you know I'm learning the language of the courage it takes to come into that vulnerability of you know, being in the hope of possibilities, also having the stoicism that you see the facts and the fragility of life and that you don't have control, and to be authentic with your emotions, yet not pull away and shut down, which takes a lot to keep your heart open through that process. Did you have that language when you were going through that or could you relate to that at all?

Speaker 2: 11:25

I don't know that I had the language, but one of the most interesting things about my journey is, during the time before and after she was sick, I was actually volunteering with a summer camp for children with cancer summer camp for children with cancer and I then was able to see some of the experiences that kids went through and how they courageously showed up in the face of something that really is unfair, right? I mean, my mom would always say she was really proud of my work volunteering with these kids with cancer, but she would say, you know, my cancer is hard and you know, but at least I've had a full life. And she really felt that it was so terrible to see kids who were robbed of some of those experiences. And but you know, I was able to witness some absolute miracles during those experiences too and, as you mentioned, the cracking open of your heart, you know, I witnessed pure vulnerability, pure connection and pure simplicity of what's most important in life from those kids.

Speaker 2: 12:37

So, while I don't know that I had the vocabulary, I did have the perspective of being in a cancer journey. Or, frankly, any health journey strips you of the things that we talked about earlier perfectionism or, you know, worry about material things in this life, because you realize quite quickly that those things don't matter. And you realize quite quickly that it doesn't matter what you look like, whether you're bald or whether you've lost a body part or whether your skin's a little pale. Today, what really matters is your heart and what you, even in your darkest moments, can create with or for other people.

Speaker 1: 13:25

Now I wanna bring you to when you received your diagnosis and what was given as a prognosis and what that felt like. Actually, probably I don't know if you felt like you're walking through a deja vu because of what your mother's experience was.

Speaker 2: 13:44

So if you can explain what that was for you and what you were experiencing, yes, there, as soon as she passed away, I'll be honest, I kind of went into my own dark place. Not just grief but a fear of getting cancer myself, right, I'd seen what she'd been through and I never wanted to do that getting cancer myself, right, I'd seen what she'd been through and I never wanted to do that. So I put myself in a place of, you know, early detection and screening and advocacy for my own health. For 15 years after she died, I worried that I was going to get cancer myself. I probably worried about it so much and I had so much anxiety about it because I would always have these mammograms that I would deem, you know, sort of scary, in that people in the medical community would say, oh, you have dense breasts and you know we can't really see fully what's going on. You're going to have to come back in six months or come back for some extra screening. So I had so much anxiety about possibly getting breast cancer for, you know, decades or more. So when I finally got diagnosed myself you're absolutely right I felt like, well, A, I sort of expected it, but B, I felt like I was in this total deja vu moment because doctors were saying the same things they'd said to my mother oh, we've caught it early, it's a small, you know, instance, You're going to be okay, but I, you know, I felt like I had whiplash too, of like. Well, wait a minute, you know, is this the beginning of my end? Because that's how my mother's journey started, and so that's when, you know, I had the opportunity.

Speaker 2: 15:27

What I like to say is to rewrite the story and to make some different choices and to learn some lessons from her experience and do things a little bit differently, and that's that's the path that I took, that I'm, I feel like I was able to do justice to my mom because, you know, I ended up having the same choices that she had.

Speaker 2: 15:49

So she had to choose between what they call a lumpectomy, which is where they just take a small lump in your breast of you know where the cancer tissue is, or a mastectomy, which is where they remove both breasts. And, as you can imagine, those are really big choices and they're very different and they come with not only just medical differences right, in terms of the intensity of the surgery, but they come with, in my opinion, different mental experiences and different mindsets about, you know kind of the choices that you make about your body because it's hitting your identity as a female absolutely and your sexuality, and we're so indoctrinated that this is what creates our beauty, or sexuality, our sense of identity, and so now you're removing this.

Speaker 1: 16:48

So then now I have to kind of go through an identity crisis of how do I relate with myself now that this part isn't there, and also how do I not scorn my body Because it's not fitting the image that I gave myself in that. Does that sound true to you?

Speaker 2: 17:10

A hundred percent. And when I think about when my mom made that decision years and years ago, and when I think about when my mom made that decision years and years ago, she chose the lumpectomy and, to be totally honest, that's probably a decision that ultimately, you know, talk about the fork in the road that probably was the decision that ended her life, because with the lumpectomy, you know, it came back over and over in the same spot. But I asked her years later, when we kind of realized that maybe if she'd had a mastectomy she might be in a better health outcome, I said, why did you choose that, mom? And she did talk about what you just raised, which was she wanted to continue to feel feminine, she wanted to continue to feel beautiful, she wanted to continue to feel like herself and keep strong in her identity. You know, and I of course, I think those are incredibly, incredibly important decisions and she made the best decision for herself at the time and I've had a lot of therapy to to come to peace with that.

Speaker 2: 18:12

But when it was my turn to make a decision, you know this is where I got to rewrite the story and of course, the double mastectomy is a harder choice because it is removal of your breasts and it is more challenging in terms of recovery and surgery and things like that. But I decided to define my identity in a different way and realizing that I can still be a woman without real breasts and I can still be beautiful, I can still look the same, I can still find ways to maintain my own identity as a woman but still also make the harder choice to do a bigger surgery to save my life. And I think that you know I talked to my husband about it. He felt the exact same way and you know, obviously now I'm, you know, six years cancer free and I feel like, both mentally and physically, I have made the decision that was right for me now.

Speaker 1: 19:13

At the time, I'm curious what did anger look like through the process of the grief with your mother and also through the diagnosis and having to make these big decisions? That is going to change the trajectory of the way that you relate to yourself and the way that life is. What did anger look like for you and were you able to befriend it?

Speaker 2: 19:38

that life is. What did anger look like for you and were you able to befriend it? That is such a good question. I was really angry. I was probably actually a lot angrier with my mother's journey. I was angry at this is going to be really vulnerable.

Speaker 2: 19:53

I was angry at three people. I'll tell you who they were. Number one I was angry at her doctors. I was angry at, you know, maybe some of the decisions that could have been made differently, maybe some of the influences that could have changed her decision, her outcome. So I was really mad at them and I could get past that.

Speaker 2: 20:15

The second person I got mad at at one point or another was my mom. I was really angry that there were times she wouldn't get a second opinion. Or I was angry there were times she wouldn't go to the you know sort of the fancy I'd call it fancy clinic that we asked her to go to. She chose to stay in her small hometown hospital when we'd gotten her some appointments at a much bigger, much more well-known facility. And I was angry at her because I felt like maybe she was giving up and I don't like to admit that because that's an embarrassing thing to admit. But it wasn't angry at her. I never, you know, we only had one argument about it. But uh, I also was able to reconcile that over time and I think that was part of the grief journey, mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 21:05

The third person I was most angry about was God. I'm being totally honest, I was really angry with him because I had felt that, you know, she was faith-filled, she was a, you know, she was the saint on earth. I had been a good girl most of my life, you know, is this what I get? You know, and I actually had to do a lot of counseling on just my relationship with God and the universe, because I couldn't understand how God or universe or any being that you believe in could be so cruel to somebody so lovely. And I'm sure you've seen that with your friend and many, many of your listeners have seen that in their lives, and that I had to do a lot of long-term work to get over that anger. And I'm at peace, god and I. We're good now, but that was probably the hardest journey.

Speaker 1: 22:03

Yeah, thank you for that. And thank you for the honesty, because that's what healing starts, the things that we're so afraid to reveal because, like you said, there's embarrassment, there's judgment on how dare you think like this, where it's like well, you're allowed to have your own emotions and your own thoughts and it not interfere with somebody else, because how are you able to really access the depths of yourself if you're not being honest? And I thank you for that transparency, because that allows somebody else to be like oh, it's okay to engage with this and it's like yeah, they're emotions, your nervous system is trying to protect you, so it's trying to control. And what does anger? Anger is the bodyguard of fear and sadness, so you don't want to fear the fear and you don't want to feel the sadness and you don't want to feel the sense of being robbed, the loss, the injustice.

Speaker 1: 22:59

And I think also what is lacking in our conversations is that death is not linear. We have this story that everybody goes at a certain way and so when that doesn't match up with you know, the great grandparents go first, then the grandparents and the parents then like and when it doesn't go, then you feel like you were cursed with something and we don't really have proper conversations about death. You know we don't engage, that's a taboo thing and it's like well, it's ingrained with life. It's ingrained with life. So when somebody has to actually experience this, they become very crippled with the grief because they've never even had any experience or conversations or dialect around it. And especially in religious circles, it's all about the resurrection and praying through this, where it's like but death isn't like something that was cursed on you, it's part of the fabrics of life. Is it painful? Heck? Yeah, this isn't minimizing somebody's experience. That's what I want to make it clear. Yet it's also just to recognize, to have healthy relationships with our emotions and accept reality as it is.

Speaker 1: 24:21

What happens in that suffering is that we want reality to be something different. I didn't want my mother to die. I didn't want to lose my mother. I want it to be something different. So then, that creates the suffering, because you're still in that old world and you're not accepting this new world, which it takes, you know, transmutation. It takes being able to feel your authentic emotions. It takes rustling and tussling with it all to be able to process the, the charges that are going on in the body. Now, when it came to your diagnosis, how did anger feel?

Speaker 2: 25:01

Yeah, I mean I was. In this instance, I was also, again, angry at doctors, and what I mean by that is because of my mom's diagnosis and because I had all these, you know, suspicious mammograms for so many years. The truth is, I got to a point where I asked several doctors to get a preventative mastectomy. I was like I am done with this with these breasts. Right, they are causing me so much anxiety. They went from a body part which, like you said, that was making me feel beautiful or making me feel feminine, or you know, maybe you know at that point you know they were life giving things for my babies. You know, I had two babies. I was done with them. I was like they're now, they've gone from this like beautiful thing to this thing that's causing me anger and anxiety and so please, just let me have a preventative mastectomy, please. And so many doctors said no, you have just as much risk as any other woman, you don't need that.

Speaker 2: 26:12

And I was like, okay, and then so when I got the diagnosis myself, I was a little angry because I was like I told you. So you know, sort of my intuition was like I know that I'm going to get this. You could argue. I manifested it, um, because of some of those emotions and and anger over the years, because of some of those emotions and anger over the years. But I was angry that I had to wait until I got the diagnosis, which was far scarier than choosing it before a cancer occurred. So there was a little bit of anger there, maybe a little bit of anger at myself, because I had let it go right.

Speaker 2: 26:57

I was like well, you know, these doctors tell me I don't need it. Okay, without trusting myself and powerfully advocating for myself, and you know, can't turn back time. But there was, you know, some anger at that.

Speaker 1: 27:12

Yeah, of course you know, as this podcast has been going on, it's been ringing. Women's health hasn't been studied. We haven't. We just now just a fraction have been able to come into the spotlight. Yet everything else was that we were neurotic and emotional and it's all in our head.

Speaker 1: 27:32

A lot of you know what the female was was just reproducing our babies and that's it. So you know where these cancers and different things that can go on. There wasn't a lot of knowledge, so a lot of these doctors are like no, whatever. And it also brings in you're in the United States, so in North America it's like well, where do I have the freedom to choose over my own body? Why is it that I have to ask permission by somebody else to tell me what's feasible and what's not feasible?

Speaker 1: 28:04

If I don't want to have any breasts, why can't I just chop them off? Like not just only cancer, like why couldn't I just chop off my breasts? Because it doesn't? I don't. I've not studied the anatomy of what hormones come from our breasts. I know it's from our pituitary and our uterus has a big impact with estrogen. I don't know about our breast, what that impacts for the mastectomy and I'm sure you can inform us because you've gone through the experience Yet. Yeah, there would be a lot of rage of I have to ask somebody else permission about the choice over my own body and I'm still not getting listened to.

Speaker 2: 28:41

A hundred percent. A hundred percent, yeah. And I don't know if you or your listeners're like, oh my gosh, why would you do that? Why would you choose to take out your body part and be so open about it? But she felt really strongly because she had the BRCA gene, which is increased risk of breast cancer.

Speaker 2: 29:18

So she got this preventative mastectomy and was so public about it that there was this trend that then occurred in the United States of many women getting preventative mastectomies, and they called it you can look it up the Angelina Jolie effect, because the number of preventative mastectomies went up and I was like, if Angelina Jolie can do it, why can't I do it? And again they were like, no, that's, you know, don't listen to her. And I'm like, well, somebody is because they're calling it the Angelina Jolie effect and, to be honest, that woman probably saved my life because I was really okay with the double mastectomy seeing, frankly, you can see her in movies. Now she's got reconstructed breasts and she looked fantastic. You know, I, I, I just that was the piece that I was really angry about is that I hadn't done it on my own terms and my own time.

Speaker 1: 30:12

And that would be that and, like you said, the intuition telling you, okay, let's do this. And then eroding that kind of trust with yourself that, well, I should have pushed better, I should have advocated better. Yet having to take into context these are people that we placed in authority and they're supposed to serve to better people and wellness. They're not here to harm. So, in their good judgment, they're thinking, oh well, no, no, this won't happen to you.

Speaker 1: 30:44

Not taking into context what is the individual telling you, Like you have to care for the person that's in front of you, not the stats and not the numbers, and unfortunately our medical system doesn't allow that space. You know you get 10 minutes at max or 15 at max. That you want to explain something where you know they're not really listening to you. They're just what's the formula and what is the prescription and what can we do and everything else. So these are dialogues that I'm just bringing forth, also so that people can better understand.

Speaker 1: 31:17

Like, okay, you're going to get angry at the medical system, yet also give some understanding of why that's here, because they're told, well, no, this doesn't happen. Like many of them probably wouldn't even know that your anxiety can start spiking a fever, or your anxiety and fear can start spiking some things, so you're like what's going on? So it's a little frustrating in those aspects. So I hear you and I'm thankful that you're here on this side and you're taking care of yourself. Now you have written a book about this whole experience so that you can empower other people. Can you let us know the title of the book and what prompted you to write it?

Speaker 2: 32:01

So you know, I'm so glad we had this conversation because it'll explain why I named this book so I had the title become the Mastectomy I Always Wanted journey. You know, it probably was deep down if I was to trust myself. The mastectomy I always wanted because I always wanted to protect my long-term health, given my mother's circumstances. I also named it that because I just felt like mindset was so important in this journey and if I could tell myself, well, this is what I wanted, that was an empowering choice for me, rather than a punishment, rather than like a oh, woe is me. You know, I have to do this surgery. No, I get to do this surgery. And that was like I really thought about my words and I thought about my mindset a lot. So that's kind of why I called it again the mastectomy I always wanted and the reason I wrote this book.

Speaker 2: 33:12

Kind of funny, when I first was diagnosed and I decided to have the mastectomy, I was at work and I told my team I was like you know, guys, I'm going to be out for probably four to six weeks in a recovery and everybody was wishing me well. After the meeting, a woman came up to me and she was somebody new in the office, so I hadn't really known her very well and she just started working there and she pulls me aside and she whispers. She's like I've had the same surgery five years ago. Would you like to see my breasts? And I was like, okay, I don't know you very well, this is a professional setting at work. But yes, I do, you know. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is so weird, but I'm going to do it. And so we like find a bathroom off the beaten path in the office, lock the door, she takes off her shirt. Her breasts look so real and her scars were so faint. You know she had had this reconstructive surgery. I literally even asked. I was like I'm sorry, but can I just touch them? Like, and they, they felt real, like it was so, so life-giving for somebody to be so vulnerable. I didn't even know this woman and there she has just taken off her shirt and again, that's another piece that changed my mindset. I was like, oh, okay, this is going to be a terrible, challenging surgery, but look at what it looks like in five years. She looks great. I would never know.

Speaker 2: 34:41

And then in that moment I really say I was like, oh, this is pretty rare. This is pretty rare, Like I'm sure there's not a lot of women who get this experience, and I didn't decide to write the book in that moment, but I was like I want to make sure that I can do this for other women in the future. So I started taking pictures before, during and after my surgery, like completely topless, completely vulnerable.

Speaker 2: 35:08

And then a couple of years had went by and I found myself getting all sorts of like calls and texts from friends who'd be like my sister just got diagnosed, can you talk to her? Or my neighbor just got diagnosed, can you guys connect? And so I would call these women, we would talk, and then I'd send them these photos of me and my chest and I was like, wow, a, it's really vulnerable and so I got to pay it forward to other women. But, b, I need to scale this and get it out to more women, because these interactions I was having with newly diagnosed women, they were like oh my God, thank you so much. You're the only person who kept it real, you're the only person who was super vulnerable to share this with me. And these are like pictures and words that are not available really on the internet in a safe way.

Speaker 2: 36:00

right Like I went to my doctor and I was like, can you show me some pictures of what I'm going to look like the day after my surgery? He's like no, I don't have any.

Speaker 2: 36:08

I'm like you don't have any, you don't have any Okay, and but so I was like, well, I'll take some, and so that's so the book is actually. It's really short, you know why? Because it has all these pictures and it has journal entries from like the first, I would say the first month of my diagnosis and it ended up just being like poetry, because my, my words, my thoughts, my mindset was so fragmented that I ended up I actually ended up like typing, typing up my journal entries. I was like it's kind of looks like poetry. So it's really short and I just think a woman newly diagnosed, she doesn't have time, so you can read it end to end in about an hour.

Speaker 1: 36:51

Yeah, I love that because you know, we know that the arts allow us to be much more vulnerable than having the analyzing mind try to nitpick where words can give an expression of so much more depth than you know the analytical mind. I want to bring you into a reflective question. I want to ask you to bring your awareness right now and to go back to your 18-year-old self, and you have three words to tell your 18-year-old self to carry you along the journey. What would those words be?

Speaker 2: 37:35

Power, authenticity and love.

Speaker 1: 37:41

Strong, strong. Now I know the listeners are like okay, where can I find Erica? I heard about this book. I want to know more about her and where I can access Cause. Clearly, you have done the alchemy. You have taken your impurities and you've turned them into gold. Yet You've not just kept the gold to yourself. You're sharing it with others so that they can be empowered in their story and let them know, like, what it looks like on the other side. So can you let the listeners know where they can find you and also clarify the Erica Campbell part, because there are other Erica Campbell's on the internet, but it's not those ones. So let them know exactly where they can find you.

Speaker 2: 38:26

Yes, you have to go to my full name, which is Erica Newbert Campbellcom. And again, that's Erica Newbert Campbellcom. If you spell it wrong, that's okay, you'll get close, you'll find me. And the reason is there's two other famous I'm not famous really but two other famous, erica Campbell's. So, ericacambellcom, don't go there on a work computer. Don't go there because it redirects to Penthouse, because there is a former porn star named Erica Campbell.

Speaker 2: 38:57

There is also a current beautiful, lovely gospel singer named Erica Campbell, so I can't hold the tune. She has a beautiful voice that is not me. So you got to find me somewhere in the middle, which is ericaneubertcampbellcom. You can also find the book on Amazon, which is again the mastectomy I always wanted, and also I just say on my website I do have like top 10 tips for women who are facing a mastectomy. I have lots of resources for women that are newly diagnosed. I would say you know above buying the book, that would be great, but really get the resources in the hands of women and that's really my vision is to just support more women.

Speaker 1: 39:41

So, listeners, at any time, if there was a tug or something just prickled inside you, reach out to Erica. It's your limbic system signaling to you that there's something there that she has to offer you. So reach out. All her information will be in the show notes, because we're in an age where everybody just wants to click and be there. So I want to be able to create that bridge so that it's much easily accessible to get to Erica and to access her profound energy and empowerment. You know, she has the lived experience, she has the listening skills, she has the empathy, she has the compassion and also the courage.

Speaker 1: 40:23

And it takes a lot of courage to go into something that you don't know, the unknown. And also the courage and it takes a lot of courage to go into something that you don't know, the unknown and uncertainty. Yet you have somebody that has a successful story. So that will be the empowerment for you to go through. And also maybe you know somebody so you're able to ask Erica what that is. How can I support them? You know, I don't even know how to show up in this because it can be very uncomfortable of you. Know what do I do? And we want to fix, we want to save, we want to remove the pain, and that can do much more harm.

Speaker 1: 40:53

It's being able to hold that space and ask somebody that's going through it, which everybody is different, yet when somebody has gone through it, they can give you some language of what that looks like to be somebody that's supporting somebody on their journey. So be sure to connect with her and get in contact with her, because she has a wealth of knowledge and resources. And, you know, I want to thank Joan for being in this conversation. You know we're October right now October actually 17th, in the mid of the month, and this is, you know, breast Awareness Month, and so I really want to thank you for being so vulnerable and transparent in this conversation, erica, and what you're bringing out in the world. I am truly sincere when I say the alchemy it really is alchemy of what you're bringing in to this world, so I want to thank you for that of what you're bringing in to this world.

Speaker 2: 41:46

So I want to thank you for that. Yeah Well, nat, I want to say thank you not only for this opportunity and this conversation and your intention, but the way that you are currently showing up for your friend, and I find that incredibly inspiring, and I know that you've been in this with her for two years and you know there's nothing wrong that you can say, because when you show up, that's, that's, those are your words, those are the words that you are not even speaking, those are just the power of your energy for your friend is really, really beautiful, and I just want to say thank you, as somebody who's been on both sides of the cancer journey, to have someone like you in their corner.

Speaker 1: 42:26

You a gift thank you, thank you. Is there anything that you would like to leave the listeners?

Speaker 2: 42:31

it could be an affirmation, empowerment or anything that that's called in your heart the affirmation that I say almost daily to myself is you are not alone and you already have everything you need, and that's what I would like to leave with your listeners you are not alone and you already have everything you need. You have it inside you. You have it within you, you have it around you, and I encourage you to find those people. If you feel alone, but know deep down, there is always, always somebody there for you.

Speaker 1: 43:14

Thank you for that. Thank you, please remember to be kind to yourself.