“You need to enjoy and live life to the fullest while you can.” Amy Matthews
Amy Matthews planned to raise her children, stay married and live a happy life; then breast cancer happened... but she didn’t let that deter her. It actually put her on the path of living a much fuller, happier and authentic life.
MK: How has this experience awakened you to yourself and your purpose?
AM: I value myself more than I ever have. My cancer ‘journey’ allowed me to grow and realize I can take control of my life and not settle. I am now out of a toxic marriage and am now teaching my children what love truly feels like. I stopped living an example of what I do NOT want for my children, I am living an example of worthiness and kindness.
MK: Tell me about your advocacy work.
AM: I have volunteered and now work for a nonprofit, Little Pink Houses of Hope, that gives much needed respite care to breast cancer patients and their families in the form of a free week long vacation retreat. I also mentor and share my story of resilience.
MK: What word do you wish you could take out of the breast cancer vocabulary?
AM: “Strong” Everyone tells the patient…”Oh, you are so strong”. What they do not realize is that it is exhausting to “be strong”, but if you do not seem “strong”, everyone else falls apart. When someone is going through cancer, they need to be allowed to “fall apart” and not be judged that they are weak.
MK: If there was one thing you could change about breast cancer and how people view it, what would that be?
AM: Really any cancer. When you are “all done” with active treatments, the cancer journey is not over. It is never truly over. It changes you and the ones you love forever.
MK: Why is it so important to you to support other women with breast cancer?
AM: I want others to see that you can survive and get back to living a normal life. It is never going to be what it was before cancer, but it is your new life.
MK: What would you tell a newly diagnosed young woman?
AM: It is okay to feel weak or sad. That does not mean you are weak. Give yourself moments to just feel.
MK: How has cancer changed how you see adversity?
AM: I do not sweat the small stuff.
MK: What one word defines you?
AM: Authentic