I don't mean to be a debby downer, but I promise there's a happy ending to this story.. as well as a very good lesson! I'll try to keep it short since I know people have short attention spans on the internet these days. But basically I wanted to share my story of picking myself back up after hitting rock bottom.

In 2014, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Sounds like an all too common thing right? Well that was my mentality at least when I first found out. I figured it was just a glitch in the road for my mom and she'd make it through to inspire others with her story. I guess my confidence got to the best of me because I was naive and didn't do my homework. She had uterine sarcoma cancer, which is like the red flag for all oncologists. Her cancer was aggressive, and the minute I started to realize that maybe she wasn't going to pull through, it was too late. Cancer took her life in less than a year and that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to endure. No child is ever prepared to say good-bye to their mom. No void will ever be filled from that loss. Just when I thought life was tough, it got worse. My dad started dating again in less than a month, my sister had a mental breakdown and had to get checked in to a psychiatric ward, and my boyfriend at the time was verbally and physically abusive. It felt as if my life was spiraling down a dark hole, with no time for me to even ground myself. This went on for a while until I finally told myself... You either live the rest of your life feeling depressed or you get off your butt and make some changes. Took me some extra pushes but I finally decided to make a drastic change and move to California. I realized that working for a big corporate company didn't feel rewarding because I wasn't contributing anything to society. So I decided to use my painful experience with my mom to create something that would give other cancer fighters a chance to have a different end to their story. Through my tears and tribulations, I created a one of a kind cancer planner that'd guide patients and their caregivers through the daily battles of cancer. My masterpiece is called CanPlan and it is touching the lives of thousands of fighters all over the world! It's more than just a planner, it's a roadmap to recovery. You 'CanPlan' to beat cancer.

So all in all, the moral of the story is that you find your biggest inspiration during your darkest moments. Just when you feel like giving up, hold on just a bit longer. You'll never know what can spark that flame in you.