When Michelle began feeling pain in her arm and down the left side of her body, she wasn’t sure what to do. She rushed to urgent care and when providers couldn’t pin-point the problem, they decided to order a chest X-ray. “I got home and they called me as soon as they got the results. They told me I needed an MRI immediately, and after that, everything changed.”
And not just for Michelle. As she navigated doctors' appointments including a PET scan, an MRI and a lung biopsy, the world outside was shutting down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Test and imaging results found tumors in her lungs that had spread to her adrenal glands and lymph nodes, which led to a stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer diagnosis. “It was shocking. My biggest question at that point was how long do I have,” Michelle recalled. “I was a little out of my mind worrying about my diagnosis, so my husband jumped into action and got us connected with one of the top cancer centers in the Northeast.”
After speaking with a nurse navigator and oncologist, it was clear that despite the state of the world, receiving her lung cancer treatment couldn’t wait. The next day, they got Michelle in for genetic testing and began treatment with a combination of a chemotherapy and immunotherapy regiment. After a year, chemotherapy became toxic to her body, but her doctors decided to keep her on immunotherapy for another two years.
The Downward Spiral
Unfortunately, immunotherapy began affecting her liver and kidney function and causing her body to stop producing cortisol, so her care team had to discontinue immunotherapy altogether and look for other treatment options. “Everyone talks about the side effects of chemo, like nausea and your hair falling out, but they don’t talk about how they may affect your body in other ways,” she said.
Michelle’s life became a never-ending cycle of new specialist visits. “Oncology for cancer treatment, nephrology for my kidneys and two different endocrinologists. My blood pressure skyrocketed. I was put on steroids, which made me gain weight and get diabetes. And then my body went into early menopause.”
The myriad of treatments and drugs left Michelle feeling woozy and out of control. On top of that, her risk of contracting severe illness from COVID-19 left her isolated. Due to treatments weakening her immune system, she was unable to touch or be around her family in case they might expose her to illness. And, because of COVID-19 restrictions, she went through every treatment appointment alone. She began to think about her true quality of life. As a licensed mental health therapist herself, she began to recognize signs of anxiety and depression in herself and knew something had to change. “My husband had been a long-time yogi and he had always encouraged me to try it, so when the COVID-19 restrictions began to loosen, I decided to give it a go.”
Turning Her Life Around: Body and Soul
At the yoga center, Michelle found something she truly needed, a sense of community. It allowed her to shift her mindset about her cancer diagnosis and, as she puts it, saved her life. “I began to love my cancer instead of locking into this ‘F cancer’ mentality,” she said. “Lung cancer has a negative connotation that causes a lot of shame and guilt attached to it, and yoga and meditation gave me a way to come to terms with everything.”
In yoga and meditation, Michelle experienced a new birth. She let the negativity go and completely changed the way she lived. “I am present. I set boundaries and keep them. I do not feel guilty about self-care. If I need a nap, I take a nap,” she said. “And I make friends and family my top priority, I can clean my house another day if I decide I want to go see someone.”
Though the medical treatment she received did shrink her tumors, three years after ending treatment, she is miraculously still seeing positive results. “It’s crazy because at my last CAT scan, one of my tumors shrunk and I looked at my doctor and said, ‘how did that happen?’ and we agreed it had to be because of my mindset,” she said. Though she knows it is not a solution for everyone, for Michelle, finding a way to master her mind and celebrate the good that continues to come into her life has made all the difference. “It feels beautiful. I do specific poses and breathing to bring life into my lungs.”
Now six years after the initial diagnosis where she was given only 24 months to live, Michelle is thriving. “I think everyone has their own journey and some of the best advice I could give someone who is newly diagnosed is it is ok to feel however you feel. It’s ok to be sad or angry. But don’t give up and try to begin living every moment intentionally.”
Michelle admits that she often thinks about death and has spent time worrying about her children and the legacy she will leave, which is why she offers this advice to everyone, “Do the things you put on hold. Because we have one life, one body, one soul. This is all we got. So, make it happen.”
Blog last updated: August 18, 2026
