Vol 19, Issue 4 June 11, 2021
All this month of June, we celebrate Cancer Survivors Month, focusing on our inspiring speakers who are cancer survivors. We’re honored to know and work with them to share their messages of hope, inspiration, faith, and even humor.
With the Olympics on the horizon, I thought it timely to share about our cancer survivor speaker, Olympic Gold Medalist Shannon Miller. This summer we cheer on the athletes competing at the 2021 Olympic Games, and we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the iconic Magnificent 7, the first US Women’s Gymnastics Team to win Olympic Gold!
Seven-time Olympic Medalist, Shannon Miller, led that team to gold that summer, and she won the first ever gold on the balance beam for the United States! However, even more exciting, this summer Shannon also celebrates 10 years Cancer Free!
Shannon speaks about how she applied the power of the Gold Medal Mindset not only while preparing to win her Gold Medals in gymnastics, but also while surviving ovarian cancer and becoming a remarkable women’s wellness advocate.
Shannon Miller – The Gold Medal Mindset for Surviving Cancer
Shannon was getting firmly established as an advocate for women’s health, when she found herself forgetting her own recommendations.
“Something had come up and I called my doctor’s office to cancel my annual exam. The operator put me on hold to take a call, and while I was waiting, I realized I was going against my own advice.
So I decided to ask to be put on a wait list. When the scheduler returned, she told me that the call was a cancellation for an appointment that day. I took it.”
That decision may have saved her life.
“My doctor found a baseball-sized cyst on my left ovary which snowballed into weeks of tests and scans,” she related.
“By January 2011, I was waking up from surgery to find out that it was a rare form of ovarian cancer. The good news was that they had caught it early. I went through an aggressive chemotherapy regimen and this June 2021 marks 10 years cancer-free for me.”
Early on, she realized how little she knew about ovarian cancer. Her women’s health focus had been on general nutrition, fitness, wellness, heart disease, diabetes and general cancer awareness.
In fact, she didn’t even realize that she had developed 3 of the 4 primary symptoms: bloating, horrible stomach aches and sudden weight loss. She had thought all of these symptoms could be attributed to changes in her body after having her son or even to simple health irregularities.
“Early detection saved my life,” she said. “I’m a huge advocate for early detection with regard to our overall health issues but most certainly with regard to cancer. The earlier we know, the more options we have. And, typically, the better the outcome.
“I decided that if my diagnosis, my story, could help others learn about the signs and symptoms, about the disease and about what support was available, and I could help raise funds for research and survivorship, then that’s what I wanted to do.”
The Gold Medal Mindset
Shannon won seven Olympic medals. She knows how to set goals and reach them. She can speak from experience about the commitment it takes to be the best.
When she speaks to audiences of cancer survivors and shares her own cancer journey, she tells them exactly how she used the lessons she learned and the mindset she developed to go from schoolgirl trying out for her local team through her Olympic training to forge ahead over the most challenging obstacles and become the best in the world.
In both her Olympic quest and her subsequent personal experiences, she found that she could draw on her Gold Medal Mindset to help her conquer cancer – the core principles that she had chosen and followed in training were the same: getting back up after a fall, doing the work and a little bit more, and making the basic decision that she would win, that she would conquer the challenge.
Hearing her story, audiences come away clearly impressed by the importance of setting goals and maintaining a positive attitude, the importance of early detection, and why “making your health a priority” is an important lesson for all of us.
Be On Your Own Team
She’s also adamant about the incredibly important role of caregivers. Again taking a lesson from sports, she emphasizes the importance of teamwork, including her own role as the patient, as a member of her healthcare team.
“Everyone is at a different stage in their journey,” she said. “However, there are things that unite us. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help. That is sometimes the most difficult part. I never wanted to be a burden or complain. But I realized, as a patient and as a daughter of a survivor, people truly wanted to help. Let them. There is strength in knowing you don’t have to do this alone.
“I think the blessing that has come out of my diagnosis is to remember to live each day to the fullest, find joy in even the smallest of things and share that joy with others.”
Whether on stage or on screen, Shannon is genuinely warm and inspiring, sharing the downs as well as the ups of both her Olympic triumphs and her cancer journey.
For more details about her Olympic accomplishments, background and topics, visit our website.
Shannon also speaks to corporate audiences as well as for women’s wellness audiences, about applying The Gold Medal Mindset of motivation, goal setting, teamwork, and commitment to excellence.
To bring Shannon to your community — in person or virtually — email me at barbara@speakwellbeing.com or call 503-699-5031.
Celebrating Roses, Festival or Not
Like festivals and summer events all around the country, our beloved annual Rose Festival here in Portland, Oregon, which normally would be going on this week, has been greatly curtailed. No parades, no waterfront amusement park, no Navy ships tied up at the waterfront, and no fireworks.
Ever since I moved here, I’ve enjoyed going downtown and sitting on the curb to watch the Grand Floral Parade. I love it all – the bands, the horses, the clowns and especially the elaborate flower-bedecked floats. The crowd-watching is always pretty entertaining as well.
A couple of times, we’ve had our grown-up kids and our grandkids join us, but even when they have not, my husband Jim and I have always been happy just to take ourselves and our lawn chairs out and set them up amidst the crowd streetside for a morning of childlike delight.
We need to remember, however, that the point of all this hoopla, is to celebrate the Rose City, and the plethora of roses that love the climate and soil here. Pandemic or not, the rose bushes soldier on offering their glorious beauty and fragrance to feast on with our eyes and senses.
Our neighbor planted his rose garden for his mother, who is now deceased. He generously invites us to partake of the bounty that appears across the street from us each summer.
This photo is the bouquet I’m enjoying this week — in celebration of the Rose City. Aren’t the colors glorious? They smell great, too!
Hopefully, by next summer, we’ll be back to enjoying gatherings and celebrations in person. Meantime, I’m going to keep smelling the roses that show up in my life. Until next time, in addition to smelling the roses take care of yourself for your well being and those you love.
Barbara
For Your Well Being is published with the intention of bringing you insider speaker reports, exclusive stories about special events around the country, meeting planner tips, and fun stuff from the worlds of health and well being. Be well and be in the know!
The Speak Well Being Group is a specialized speakers bureau, focusing on health and wellness for all types of organizations that want to foster health and wellbeing for their employees, members, clients, and in their communities.
We hand select our speakers, and they are not only experts in their fields; they inspire and motivate attendees. Our ultimate goal is to make a positive difference in their lives — a sense of wellbeing, ease, and hope — and likely enjoy some laughter and levity along the way.
Finding the perfect keynote speaker for your special event or conference is my personal passion, not just once, but year after year. It brings me great joy to know that your audience was delighted and moved by the speaker we selected together. I’m committed to making the process easy, pleasant and fun
