- Tell me your success journey overcoming cancer?
I don’t know if it is one thing in particular, first would be my desire to live! I went in with a mindset that dying wasn’t an option and I truly held onto that with my faith in God. We had just lost my children’s father less than twenty-four hours after my cancer diagnosis. I was not going to entertain the thought of me dying as well. I went to work with the team of doctors I had and they developed a plan of attack and I was very involved with my treatment plan and the medicine I would take, along with my diet.
2. What do you recommend to people living with cancer?
First, no two diagnosis’s and treatment are alike so I’m careful of suggesting anything medically. I believe having the right attitude and not allowing yourself to start stressing about what is next. I suggest getting a good team together, if there is something you don’t understand, always have someone else with you because you will forget, you have so much on your mind and coming from all directions. Ask questions and if something doesn’t feel right, speak up! I interviewed every one of my doctors and I decided one doctor wasn’t right for me so I interviewed another one. Have your partner take notes, I also say please don’t listen to everyone about what is best for you, we have family and friends that mean well but this is your journey and discussing it with everyone and going online to read everything will have you mentally drained. Stay connected to positive people and avoid stress if possible. Eating healthy is so important, I can’t stress that enough.
3. What do you do for your well-being?
I’ve been a vegetarian since 2013 and went plant-based in 2017. I eat an avocado daily along with putting as much alkaline water and foods into my body as possible. I believe that made a major difference in my recovery. I still have a 1500 calories per day regimen, I exercise about five times a day and walk every morning three miles. When I was going through chemo, I did acupuncture for my neuropathy I had. Prior to Covid-19 lockdown &stay-at-home orders, I believed in getting a good massage.
BIO:
Doretta Thomas has been an agent for ten years specializing in insurance and financial products, with licensing in Arizona, California and Texas. Doretta’s passion lies in helping women, families, small business owners, and employees build a lifetime of financial security.
In 2017 she founded “Ladies Leaving Legacies, LLC.” sharing the importance of how women can create generational wealth through life insurance. Doretta gets excited sharing the benefits of the Indexed Universal Life product she offers and how it serves as an awesome product that can enhance most financial portfolios.
Doretta actively works as a Professional Advisory Committee member with the Arizona Foundation for Women, a non-profit organization that serves the entire state of Arizona, providing research, advocacy, and philanthropy to benefit the safety, health, and economic empowerment of women.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 2018 she is now ever so passionate about bringing this important information to everyone she meets. After hearing her story about how having products in place provided her and her family financial comfort you too will be encouraged.
She is the author of “Dying Is Not an Option, Overcoming Obstacles Beyond Your Control” published in 2020 and “Sticks and Stones, Overcoming Verbal and Emotional Abuse” published in 2008. For more information about her book, visit: http://www.dyingisnotanoption.net
Her greatest accomplishment is being a mother to five sons and a doting grandmother to six beautiful grandchildren.