From Battles to Brilliance: Andrea Woolf's Triumphant Cancer Journey
Apr 14, 2024
Tami
Have you ever encountered someone whose spirit is so resilient, it shines through even the toughest battles? My guest, the fierce and fabulous Andrea Wolfe, is one such warrior. Together, we traverse the peaks and valleys of her fight against triple-negative breast cancer, a journey not for the faint of heart. With the same zeal she brings to her life coaching, Andrea faced chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, and radiation therapy head-on, transforming her trials into triumphs. Her candid sharing in our conversation is a masterclass in living one's principles through adversity, demonstrating the vast reserves of strength we all have within us.
Andrea's story doesn't just stop at survival; it's about the wisdom harvested from the trenches of her cancer journey. She imparts the importance of self-advocacy and the profound effect a hopeful outlook can have during the bleakest moments. Finding joy in the small things, like adding a little sparkle to your outfit, can be a powerful antidote to despair. The anecdotes and insights Andrea and I exchange underscore the transformative impact of mindset and attitude, offering listeners a special gift: a free resource designed to uplift anyone touched by the journey of cancer. Tune in for a heartfelt blend of personal reflection, practical advice, and a message of unwavering optimism that resonates with all who listen.
Have you ever encountered someone whose spirit is so resilient, it shines through even the toughest battles? My guest, the fierce and fabulous Andrea Wolfe, is one such warrior. Together, we traverse the peaks and valleys of her fight against triple-negative breast cancer, a journey not for the faint of heart. With the same zeal she brings to her life coaching, Andrea faced chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, and radiation therapy head-on, transforming her trials into triumphs. Her candid sharing in our conversation is a masterclass in living one's principles through adversity, demonstrating the vast reserves of strength we all have within us.
Andrea's story doesn't just stop at survival; it's about the wisdom harvested from the trenches of her cancer journey. She imparts the importance of self-advocacy and the profound effect a hopeful outlook can have during the bleakest moments. Finding joy in the small things, like adding a little sparkle to your outfit, can be a powerful antidote to despair. The anecdotes and insights Andrea and I exchange underscore the transformative impact of mindset and attitude, offering listeners a special gift: a free resource designed to uplift anyone touched by the journey of cancer. Tune in for a heartfelt blend of personal reflection, practical advice, and a message of unwavering optimism that resonates with all who listen.
Tami Barber:
Welcome to another episode of Cancer the Emotional Mountain. I'm Tami, your host and a cancer thriver. Today's episode is incredible. I had the wonderful pleasure of interviewing Andrea Woolf, a cancer survivor with a wealth of knowledge and information for all of us. I'd only met Andrea a couple weeks ago and I feel like we've been friends for years. We share so many positive feelings and experiences. I immediately wanted to introduce her to you. Andrea shares her cancer journey and so much more. Please stay to the end to receive the generous gifts she has for all of you.
Tami Barber:
If you're struggling in your cancer journey, this is the place for you. A rollercoaster of emotion takes over with the diagnosis, whether it's you or someone you love. Your life is suddenly changed forever or someone you love your life is suddenly changed forever. Join me on this podcast for what I hope is a chance to breathe and be understood. Hi everybody, this is Tami with Cancer the Emotional Mountain. I am more than excited to introduce you to a new friend of mine, Andrea Woolf, who also has her cancer story. She's got so much to tell us. I'm not even going to just waste my time introducing this fabulous author, life coach, brilliant woman, hysterical person who has come into my life and I could not be happier.
Tami Barber:
So, welcome, Andrea.
Andrea Woolf:
Thank you, my friend Tami. Yes, we definitely connected from way back when somewhere we did, we did.
Tami Barber:
We just a sister from another mister and we're going to be looking for a mutual father sometime soon. We'll hit the road and do that, but what I? The reason I was connected with Andrea is that she is a cancer survivor. And she's going to tell you the story about that and what it brought her to do, how it has changed her life with blessings. So, andrea, tell us about your diagnosis and what type of cancer you had.
Andrea Woolf:
Yeah, so I'm so grateful to be here. This is fantastic. Thank you, tammy, so much. Oh, I'm so happy I was diagnosed back in 2021 with the most aggressive breast cancer there is triple negative because I'm an overachiever and you know I had no idea what was in store with me. I have a wonderful hairdresser. She was going through a more minor thing, but she did the research because it made me feel nauseous to like look all this stuff up online and she was fantastic. So, and my husband too, right from the very, very beginning day one by my side for the whole experience I went through. But I'm jumping ahead. So, I went through three phases of treatment. The first was chemo, and because it was the fastest growing. I was on two different cocktails of the most aggressive chemo that there is yes, we have heard of the Red Devil.
Andrea Woolf:
Yeah, the Red devil, yes, exactly, I can't remember the name of the other one, but it was months of chemo, like, I think, most of us who've gone through this. It was months of chemo. That was the first phase of treatment. Then I had a break so we got permission from the doctors but we went on a trip and then we came back and then the second was a double mastectomy and of course my head went all over the place about that, but honestly it was not difficult. I didn't participate, I was out, did you sleep during that?
Andrea Woolf:
I was out, I was out.
Tami Barber:
That's what I tell people. I napped through that.
Andrea Woolf:
And then we had another break and another trip with permission from all the doctors, and then the third phase was 33 rounds of radiation.
Andrea Woolf:
And, interestingly enough, a dear friend of mine with very minor cancer was going through a little bit of radiation and I went to the same center where she was and I asked her you know how it was going? And she said well, it's OK, I just had to come home and actually I just have to go to bed right away. I have to, and I went through 33 rounds of that stuff and I didn't have to nap once. It does make you tired, for sure, but it didn't affect me that way. So somewhere, somewhere, I can, I found all this strength in me.
Andrea Woolf:
I was in shock when I was first diagnosed and I remember I wanted to share this story with everyone. So I was in shock. I mean, this was not a game, this was very, very real. And so I work from home, I have an office at home, and I don't know what led me to do this, some inner push, but I have just, like every one of you, to let go of things like worry, fear and self-doubt, I mean, with every woman who comes anywhere near me, right? So here I was, in shock and experiencing all of those three things, and I realized that as a coach I've been a coach for 35 years, by the way, well experienced coach I realized that this was the biggest opportunity of my professional life to actually walk my own talk. And that was another oh my God moment. Right For looking at the mirror.
Andrea Woolf:
Well that that's hard, because the minute you're told you have cancer, your brain rewires and the bottom drops out right, but how am I going to like be be the coach I say I am if I'm not walking the talk, which was a great like slap on the side of the head. So I'm kind of like well, pondering on that, how do I do that? It was about really like just rising above the initial emotional responses to all of this and this brave new world of medical experiences and to actually be who I say I am as a coach. So what that led to was when I went to get the chemo, you know, in the cancer center. So I can't, I am incapable of just sitting there and doing nothing and you know, every one of us knows you're there for hours, right, yes, yes um, and so I saw women in the cancer center.
Andrea Woolf:
It was pretty intimate. They look really depressed, they look lonely, they look like they were suffering, and so if I could, I would sit next to one of them and then, if I could, I'd get them chatting with me and then, if I could, major victory. And then, if I could, I'm getting that chill I was talking about before, where you know you're speaking powerful thing, and if I could get a giggle, that was a major, major and the nurses watched me doing all this.
Andrea Woolf:
They watched me doing all this. I just can't sit and do nothing for hours, and the other thing I did to fill the time was I'd bring a notebook. I didn't realize just how brilliant I was being in all humility. I say that in humility.
Tami Barber:
Oh, no, I get it.
Andrea Woolf:
So I started just writing down thoughts in this notebook. You know about what I was going through, and so by the time I completed the chemo, I had sort of the outline of a book. It's a short book, and it's short chapters, so easy, easy peasy read. Don't we love that, right? Yes, yes, who wants to read a volume?
Tami Barber:
I have it. It's so wonderful yeah, so it's what it spoke to me, because it was like I was you're, you're writing and I'm hearing my voice. The same thoughts, oh awesome, oh, fantastic, fantastic.
Andrea Woolf:
So so let me just share a little bit more yes for yes, our listeners here. None of us, especially when you're going through something like we're going through, right, or we were for me it was going through we don't want to read a volume, we just want to read something like this, relevant and helpful and short, right, right. So I kept myself to that, because I can go on and on, right, but I kept myself to that, and it's 12 short chapters and it's all about how, how I did it, but with, with ideas, so, for example, so, as you can see, I'm wearing, I'm wearing jewelry, I'm wearing, um, I'm wearing jewelry, right? So I, one of the chapters is called a sparkle every day and, honestly, ladies, I have continued to do this to this very day. I, I am very big on sparkling, sparkling every single day yeah, Andrea is showing me all her bling .
Tami Barber:
She's got drop bling earrings and a matching necklace to go with, and her wrists are bedazzled. Bedazzled and sparkly. That's my kind of girl.
Andrea Woolf:
Yeah, for a second, I forgot we were on a podcast, right, so sparkle every day. Now, one of the best pieces of advice that I got and this is another chapter in the book is be your own best advocate. Be your own best advocate, and I say that's a great idea in life, not just about the cancer journey, but it's really a good idea, ladies, to be your own best advocate yes yeah, I'm still involved in being my own best advocate.
Andrea Woolf:
Uh, because, , my oncologist moved to North Orange County. I'm in Southern California and I had to find another oncologist and, oh my god, the system is so complicated. I'm just it's taken me months to do it right. I've now got one, but it's taken me absolutely speaking up, getting the next step, getting the name, getting taking that it's crazy.
Andrea Woolf:
And then getting an appointment yeah, but in life, in life generally, it's a very good idea to be your own best advocate. It really is, and us ladies we're not usually wired that way, right, we aren't so. So every chapter is distinct and easy read. So may I uh, share the link?
Tami Barber:
yes, you may. We have a special gift for everyone all right, so it's wwwwisdommadesimplecom.
Andrea Woolf:
Forward slash new, forward slash new book.
Tami Barber:
Okay, and our readers can go to that and download the book for free.
Andrea Woolf:
Absolutely free.
Tami Barber:
It's her gift to all of you, and it's not just for the patients, the caregivers too.
Andrea Woolf:
Really, it's for everyone who's anywhere near the cancer journey. Yes, family members, yes, help them understand right.
Tami Barber:
So, yes, so one more time wwwwisdommadesimplecom forward slash new book and I will also make sure that is in the show notes so that it's easy for you. You don't have to write anything down right now. Chemo brain makes us forget things. It will be in the show notes so you can easily find it. And thank you, Andrea. Just a wonderful, wonderful gift. We all need that little nugget of wisdom that says we're not alone exactly, and I know you're a huge advocate of that, and you also brought up something right before we started recording about where you choose to focus.
Andrea Woolf:
Share that with everybody, oh yes, so, um, so I have a coach and mentor myself. I walk my own talk, right, because if I didn't, then I wouldn't be walking my own talk. Um, and she's amazing. Her name is Caterina Rando. She's absolutely amazing.
Tami Barber:
She is amazing. She's how we got together.
Andrea Woolf:
Oh, that's right, that's right. And we've become very, very deep friends, very good friends. She's extraordinary. So where were we going here? This is the key.
Tami Barber:
Oh yes, where were we going here? This is the key where you choose to yeah where you choose, oh yes.
Andrea Woolf:
So years ago she said to me Andrea, when you hear yourself saying something where you go oh right, that's good to yourself then then write it down, capture these sayings. That are your sayings. So one of mine is where you choose to focus determines your experience of life. That is 100%. Say that again when you choose to focus determines your experience of life, and the example that I share on this is imagine that a disaster has just happened.
Andrea Woolf:
There are two people who've just gone through it Maybe it's a tornado and all possessions, including the houses, are gone, but nobody got hurt and there's two let's call them women side by side who've just gone through this, and one of them is bemoaning their fate, which is, of course, completely understandable, right. The other one is looking around to see who they can help. Yes, exactly, I always go when I say it to myself too, I know and I'm picturing it. Yeah, yeah, this applies to every all experiences in life. You get to choose how you respond to it, so someone can be rude to you and you just smile at them or say something empathetic Like are you having a bad day, right, I'm getting better at that so.
Tami Barber:
I used to I used to do the knee jerk, but it doesn't get me anywhere and I'm at much more peace.
Andrea Woolf:
Yes, yeah, exactly. Life's much easier. It's much easier. Yeah, it is.
Tami Barber:
And that's one of the things that I'm doing and hope I'm doing with this podcast is that and I've said it before the doctors, the nurses, the medication is all wonderful and life-saving and it's saving our lives, but to me that's 2% of the treatment. 98% of the treatment has to be me, my brain, my outlook, my attitude, how I'm going through it.
Andrea Woolf:
I could tell in the cancer center who either didn't have any support at all or who was choosing to go the very hard way. I see it too right uh, through the whole thing, and then I would again try and get near them and help them, right um I love that.
Tami Barber:
I wish you'd been sitting next to me this past month because I'm I was struggling oh my goodness, yeah, I wish I was too. And next thing, you know those hours are gone and you're on your way home, but and and I commend you, you you finished all that chemo and went on a trip.
Andrea Woolf:
See, this is my husband, this is my husband.
Andrea Woolf:
I'm gonna share here just between us. I have a wonderful husband. We've been married for 20 years, um, and he's amazing, extraordinary, and he's not usually patient. So I mean what has been dazzling? I mean dazzling is, this has been like the perfect lesson for him, because the chemo did a number on my memory and to this day, my memory is a mess. It is. I'm reaching for names and words and stuff and, uh, for a while it irritated the heck out of him and I said, really, I'm not, I'm not playing here. I really have been impacted by the chemo that he was by my side. Every single meeting with doctors and there are a lot, as you know he would drive me because after a certain point I was with the chemo, I was not going to risk driving because I was very, very tired and he just somehow kept his business going. He's very different to me. He is a cybersecurity and IT expert. We're polar opposite, wow yeah. But he has a huge heart and it's amazing.
Tami Barber:
It sounds like it. Andrea has shared a couple of stories privately with me about some of the things he's done, and it makes such a huge difference when you have a caregiver that just is along for the ride but takes care of the things that you suddenly feel are impossible, and that's the note to the caregivers you are so important.
Tami Barber:
Always, always, always. Cherish your part in this and what you are doing for someone who is literally scared to death. Yeah, and it's okay to be scared, but then, like you said, you go look in the mirror and you say how am I gonna do this? How am I gonna do this?
Andrea Woolf:
I still, to this day, pause at the mirror. Okay, good job, you know like that yes.
Tami Barber:
I'm a mirror lipstick writer in myself notes. Yeah, I don't have anybody. I write love notes too on the mirror. I will just write them to myself. If I'm you going down one of those holes, I'll just write SMILE! I'm a visual learner. And that is there. So where are you now in your cancer journey?
Andrea Woolf:
Okay, so I have, I've completed everything. I just my last surgery, and I have, um, the boobs of my dream, um, because I was, I was blessed to inherit my grandmother's from Lithuania, uh, from her very large boobs, and so when I met at the first time with the plastic surgeon, most women go to him to be larger, right, right. And so I said I want to be smaller, I want to be small, I really want you to hear me, I want to be smaller, right. So he kept trying a little bit here and there in the future meetings, right, to like, no, no, really smaller, right, yeah, very, very, very happy with with that. So so the last surgery I had just a week or two ago, right, yes, I still have the port from the, uh, the chemo. So, uh, that's scheduled to to be done. And I've gone through months of not having an oncologist because I loved my oncologist. She was funny and upbeat and uplifting.
Tami Barber:
It makes all the difference.
Andrea Woolf:
It makes all the difference makes all the difference, but anyway. So she moved to North Orange County and went out of network and the whole insurance thing, right. So anyway, it's taken months, months and months to finally get authorized with a local um, a local oncologist. So, um, it's a man, I would have preferred a woman, but it's okay, it's a guy, um, and and well, it's okay, all you males out there.
Tami Barber:
This is
Andrea Woolf:
A lot of my doctors were.
Tami Barber:
so, yeah, oh mine, mine's a man and I couldn't have picked a better one, so yeah it's your personalities, it's what clicks.
Andrea Woolf:
The first thing I want to have done is I want to get tested because I have not been tested in way too long to see the cancer free. Right, yeah, this was the problem. This was me, yeah, so I've been in this I won't call it struggle, but ridiculousness for months. So now I'm going to make it happen and just confirm I'm cancer free.
Tami Barber:
Right, yeah, and that's another emotional thing. We were scared of all those tests, but we we want to know. Oh, definitely, you're tugged back and forth, back and forth.
Andrea Woolf:
I'm doing breathing exercises, I'm remembering the mirror, like when I go to those. So, ladies, this is this is what I do really, to keep walking. My own talk is to whatever it is, listen to the, the music, if they're playing it, whatever it is that to not go negative while I'm getting, while I'm getting a test right. This is the irony. Some of them are long. You know you're going PET scan and you know it takes, it takes a while and you're in there thinking. So it's managing, managing I'm pointing to my head here managing your mind. Managing your mind makes it much easier to get through it. It does.
Tami Barber:
I can't say this enough times, really, I know it it makes all the difference in the world, and because there's only so much you can control and you have to give up the right. This is what I want it to be right no, you got to give that up.
Tami Barber:
You just say I'm here now um it's gonna be okay gonna be fine, and it's no matter what it is, it's gonna be fine. And that's where I see those people, too, at the cancer center that don't have that and you just want to, like, infuse them with it, like it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay yeah it, one way or the other, it's gonna be okay.
Andrea Woolf:
Yes, yes. So, be on your own team. That makes sense. Imagine all the body parts that you have right, that you're blessed with, and you're all rowing in the same direction. Because otherwise and actually rowing is a really good metaphor, because, um, I don't, I can't remember the new movie that was out with the rowing teams. It's fantastic movie anyway. But what happens is if you're not all aligned, like all your body parts, like rowing in the same direction, with the same rhythm, then what's going to happen is you're going to splash around and the boat's going to not go anywhere. It'll keep turning itself or whatever, right. So if you imagine that all of you is one big, you're rowing yourself, you're one unit, all of you, and you're all on the same team, aligned. That you're gonna do great, you're gonna make it through, you're gonna. It'll help you, like it, like crazy, it'll make everything so much easier. Whatever it is, you're experiencing it. Whatever it, is.
Tami Barber:
You've heard the terrible words you have cancer. You're past that. You've gone through treatment. You've gone through surgery. You've gone through all these things. You've already conquered so much that you can handle anything. Like you said about being an advocate for yourself, I am a much better advocate for myself in all areas now because I've been through this.
Andrea Woolf:
Bravo.
Tami Barber:
Yes, I'm more of an adult now than that stompy kid.
Andrea Woolf:
And.
Tami Barber:
I'm no longer rolling on the floor stomping my feet. I'm I'm trying to just get the assistance and help my need in a way that we're all happy.
Andrea Woolf:
Now, what you might be forgetting while you're going through something like this is that you actually have a life and, um, it isn't all about cancer, right? So, if I may share a little bit about a workshop that I have. So it's called Ignite your Dream Life, right, ignite your Dream Life, not just a life that will be okay. Ignite your Dream Life, and I am holding it to help people wonderful, smart women just like you, who are also probably quite complicated and getting in your own way in one or more areas of your life.
Tami Barber:
Well, I am definitely going to be there, and this again will also be in my show notes.
Andrea Woolf:
But Andrea tell us how to find it. This is also a gift by the way, yes, it's another gift.
Tami Barber:
Andrea came with presents.
Andrea Woolf:
I did. I love that. It's very English, right? Okay, so the link for it, and I believe it's an hour, so it's very doable, right? When is it Real?
Andrea Woolf:
Okay, so it's very doable, right when is it real quick, okay, so I. The next dates coming up uh, thursday, april 11th, at 12 noo Pacific okay, and wednesday, april 24th, at 12 noon pacific.
Andrea Woolf:
There are future dates as well. So if you can't make it um, just hop on the next one yeah, hop on.
Andrea Woolf:
The next one see from the link for this is wwwandrewwolfcom. Forward slash ignite hyphen workshop. Wolf has two O's, by the way. Oh, correct, yes, like Virginia, but no relative. So it's www. andrea andrea wolf w o o l fcom. Forward slash ignite hyphen workshop. Yes, so we do get in our own way, sort of not just around cancer, by the way we get. We get in your own way. We are complicated beings, us women and um, and you're who I absolutely can help. I can help you not be quite so complicated we, we are programmed to second guess ourselves.
Andrea Woolf:
Yes, can you have an amazing, amazing life while going through cancer? Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. Yes, in fact, it'll help. So I'm sure that was my husband's thinking to take me on trips to Europe. No less what that when we got the the okay from the doctors. No less what that when we got the the okay from the doctors. So, you know, I went really, really, and he's yes, let's do it.
Tami Barber:
Oh, so, um, which is great for the memory, u, of okay, I'm not sitting at home thinking I just got done with chemo. I'm swirling through the sky onto a new adventure exactly.
Andrea Woolf:
I mean really, it's all about adventures it is marvelous wonderful well, I want again.
Tami Barber:
All the information for the free book and the free workshop is going to be in the show notes, so I don't want any of you to miss it and please take this opportunity. These are gifts from ndrea to you, to all of you. You don't want any of you to miss it and please take this opportunity. These are gifts from Andrea to you, to all of you. You don't have to be a cancer patient. You don't have to be a caregiver. You maybe you're somebody who just has lost someone. Cancer touches all of our lives. It doesn't discriminate, and some, some of you may even, uh, just have found out that something like this in your world is upside down, and these are things that we need, and andrea is the person to lift you up, please, please, please, connect with me, come to my world and I'm here for you.
Andrea Woolf:
I am absolutely here for you. She really i is she really
Tami Barber:
i. I can attest personally. Personally, it's happened to me. But, andrea, thank you so very much. I really appreciate this. You'll have to come on again because there's more books and I don't know about you guys, but one thing I have learned recently with everything that's going on in the world is that if I can escape and find self-help in any way, shape or form, I'm going to try and do it.
Tami Barber:
so we'll be right, we'll be right ba Thank you for listening to another episode of cancer, the the Emotional Mountain. I want to sincerely thank my guest today, andrea Wolfe, for the positive energy and nuggets of wisdom. I hope you found something that will help you in your journey. Please subscribe and share the podcast if you know someone who could use a helping hand. Also, if you want to check in, join the Facebook group Cancer the Emotional Mountain.
Tami Barber:
Support for each other is never overrated. If you have a personal concern or question, please don't hesitate to send me an email at c. emotionalmountain at gmailcom. I'm not an expert, just another traveler on this crazy mountain of peaks and valleys. And, as promised, andrea will send you a copy of her book for free. Find it at wwwwisdommadesimplecom. Forward slash new book and I want to remind you to check out one of her free workshops. I know I'll be at the next one. You can find that information at Andrea Wolf and Wolf has two O's W-O-O-o-l-fcom. Forward slash ignite dash workshop. For now, this is Tamm, telling you to breathe, take care of yourself and never give up. Bye-bye.