Sharing experiences with cancer

We are deeply grateful to our panelists who shared about their experiences with cancer at our October meeting. Our hearts and minds were opened. Thank you so much for letting us in on your journeys.

We planned this meeting because many of us have been deeply affected by cancer, whether we’ve been sick ourselves or seen friends and family members battle the disease. And we had many questions, ranging from how to gather information on all the possible choices for treatment to how to deal with enormous emotional challenges. We wanted to find out how to get help for ourselves, and/or get a better idea of the best way to help others.

At this meeting, five members shared their – or their children’s – experiences with cancer diagnosis and treatment. They touched on finding alternative treatments, seeking options for detox and healthy recovery after chemotherapy, battling extreme stress and the journey to emotional healing after treatment, using spirituality in their journeys and other lessons they’ve learned as they fought cancer. It was a privilege to hear them share their deeply personal and emotional journeys. We were reminded once again what an incredible community we have and how important it is to support one another.

Thank you to our five panelists: Rachel, Monica and Victoria and holistic health coaches Marybeth Walsh of My Whole Self and Christi Flynn of The Super Woman Lifestyle, both cancer survivors who now work with others on achieving optimum health and well-being. We learned so much from all of you.

Some of us took notes and will try to put these together with the panelists notes and share with members on our email loop in the near future. To start, Christi shared this list of books she recommends when someone comes to her with a diagnosis.


1. Cancer, Step Outside the Box
2. Outsmart your Cancer
3. The Only Answer to Cancer
4. The Living Food
5. Cancer Free
6. Knockout
7. Adios cancer

Special fall daytime meeting!

We were happy to welcome Holistic Health Coach Robin Shirley to speak to our group for a special daytime meeting. Robin suffered from rheumatoid arthritis in childhood and has found dramatically improved health through nutrition and lifestyle changes. We had a great crowd and enjoyed Robin sharing with us some tips for clearing out things that draw away our energy and ways to boost our immune systems.

A note about daytime meetings:
Although our regular monthly meetings are in the evenings to make sure working mamas can join us, we're often asked about daytime meetings. We've tried a few in the past and would love to offer them on a regular basis if there is enough interest and volunteer support.

Our chapter has a team of six co-leaders, most of whom work during the day. We are always open to having a co-leader who would lead regular daytime meetings open to the public (with or without speakers) or to having a volunteer organize daytime meetings for members. These might be follow-ups to the evening meetings or could be on another topic and would be in addition to playgroups and outings.