I am 36, and I have stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. I just went into remission about a month ago, so I guess technically I don’t have it anymore. I was diagnosed last year in January at 35, and I was only given 12 months to live. I went to the hospital for an infected port. It had given me a blood infection and a jugular blood clot.

At the time, I was bald, hopeless, and depressed, and I felt like I was not going to make it. I felt the saddest I have ever been in my life. One morning, a nurse in a tie-dye Ascension shift and a tie-dye mask came into my room and was so full of life. She told me, and I will NEVER forget, “Positivity kills cancer.” Something about her made me believe her.

Every day I saw her, I was a little more cheerful and a little more positive. After my hospital stay, EVERY single time I felt down, I would say that to myself, and it helped me to stay and still helps me to stay positive. AND it worked!! Positivity, chemo and prayers killed my cancer. I know it might not seem as powerful as I am making it, but when you are dying and fighting for your life, the smallest kindness goes a long way. Mary helped me in words I can’t even describe. I still cry when I think about it.