78. From Cancer Survivor to Luxury Brand CEO: Dr. Verniese Moore’s Unstoppable Journey

Hey Doc,

What would you do if life gave you a second chance?

In this episode, I sit with Dr. Verniese Moore, a board-certified family medicine physician, a wife, a mom of two, and the CEO of the luxury handbag brand Vie Lorie, who shares her life in the most raw and beautiful way.

She takes us back to Gate B3 in LaGuardia Airport, where she fell to the floor as she learned she was cancer-free, surrounded by strangers who celebrated for her. That moment shaped everything she’s built since.

Dr. Verniese open up about:

• The shame she once carried about her diagnosis, and how sharing her story became her greatest source of connection.
• The love story that grew out of her vulnerability and how her husband’s grounded response deepened their bond
• Navigating two C-sections, and the fears that linger when you’ve lived through the unexpected.
• Why she started her luxury handbag line, Vie Lorie, not just for the love of design, but to create something rooted in empowerment and legacy.

This conversation is more than a story of survival. It’s about love, faith, motherhood, and the quiet daily choices to toward the life you actually want.

Listen in, and let this episode spark the courage to take your own next step.

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Dr. Verniese Lorielle Moore is a board-certified family medicine physician who was born and raised in NY and currently lives in Haymarket, VA with her husband and two children. She is the CEO and Founder of the luxury handbag brand, VIE LORIE that recently launched on February 1st, 2025.

As a physician and visionary designer, Dr. Moore transformed her victory over stage 3 lymphoma into an embodiment of elegance and strength through handbags. Each VIE LORIE creation transcends the conventional bounds of luxury accessories, becoming instead an artful testament to the human spirit and a celebration of life and victory, reflecting an unwavering commitment to quality and purposeful design.

Verniese's mission is to empower women through elegant handbags that blend sophistication, beauty, and meaningful substance. She understands that a handbag is not just an accessory; it's a partner in daily triumphs and a silent confidant in moments of contemplation. Whether it’s through handbags, physical health, or spiritual development, Verniese takes great pleasure in encouraging, motivating, and pushing women to their next level in life.

For more information about Dr. Verniese, you can visit her website and connect with her on

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Transcript

Hey Doc, we are back with another wonderful guest. I am so excited to have here Dr. Verniese Moore. She is a board certified family medicine physician and she is the CEO of a luxury. Handbag brand called Vie Lorie Can you believe it? I feel so special to be in her presence. Welcome, Dr. Verniese. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm so happy to have you. So Dr. Verniese, tell me, how many kids do you have?

I have two. Two kids. A one a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. Aw, beautiful. How long have you been married? I've been married for nine years. I got married in uh, 2016. 2016. Okay. I, I think y'all are a year before us. Yeah, we're 2017. Beautiful. So tell me, why did you start this luxury handbag brand? Well, I'll, I'll tell you, I absolutely love luxury handbags.

I've, um, loved bags for many years before I even had the idea that I would start a luxury handbag line. I, uh, back in 20 21, 20 22, I went on a year long. Shopping spree, just buying bags. And my husband didn't say much. He just was kind of quiet looking at me. Okay, well, you know, let's see where this goes.

Well, one day he tells me, the next time you bring a bag in this house, it should have your name on it. And at first I said, what would he tell me? Something like, well, the light bulb went off in my head. I started to do some research looking into starting a luxury handbag line. I knew that it was going to be an uphill journey, but the more information that I learned, the more I fell in love with the idea.

And in September of 2023, I said, well, it's time to do something about this. And I started the luxury ending line. Um, chose a name, uh, did a lot of branding around. Um, what I wanted it to stand for, um, I wanted to, to have a deeper meaning outside of just being beautiful materials and excellent craftsmanship.

I built the brand, uh, the luxury impact brand on something that's more meaningful and that's woman empowerment and living a victorious life. That is, um, absolutely amazing. Thank you. And all of that while raising two babies. Two, uh, my, my kind of crazy. Yeah, that's, that's what I love. So I wanna take it all the way back because, you know, I don't do a lot of intro in the beginning, but one thing I didn't mention from your.

Amazing bio is that you are a cancer survivor. Yes. So I want to give a little bit of context. When was that cancer journey in relationship to your motherhood journey? So I was diagnosed in 2010, April of 2010. So I was not married at that time. Uh, I wasn't even in a relationship. I had a swollen lymph node and I kind of ignored it.

I told my mom about it and she took it serious. And one day when I came back from medical school, uh, I think it was a holiday, I mentioned to my mom that I had a swollen lymph node. And given that I had a significant family history of a uncle who had, um. Lymphoma and a grandmother who had multiple myeloma.

My mom mentioned it to the doctor when she went for her doctor's appointment, and we had an excellent, um, family physician. Actually he was a gastroenterologist, but he did a little bit of everything. He did a little bit of everything and she was going to him for her primary care needs, which he was also treating my dad, um, for blood pressure.

And so here, my mom brings this story to him. She said, he says, okay, I'll order a CT scan. And it was with that CT scan that we found that there were lymph nodes all over my body that were enlarged. And so that was in 2010. I didn't have my first child until 2019, so that was nine years later. Wow. So how long was the entire journey from diagnosis to the beginning of remission?

Um, so April, 2010 is when I was diagnosed. But I will tell you, I was dealing with these symptoms, um, which was, I, I had diffuse itching. I had, um, swollen lymph nodes that I was ignoring, and I had this profound fatigue that I couldn't explain. But here I'm in medical school and every medical student is complaining about being tired.

So I just kind of felt like it was the norm. Yeah, so I would say about a year prior to being diagnosed, I was dealing with the symptoms, not knowing what it was, but it was August 23rd, 2010 that I was declared cancer free. I was in the middle of LaGuardia Airport. Yeah, I was in the middle of LaGuardia Airport.

I. Uh, flown home. At this time, I was doing rotations in Atlanta, Georgia, and I was flying back and forth, so I would go to class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, leave a little bit early Thursday evening, and I would fly home on Friday. I got permission during my chemo treatments, which was every other week.

Fly home on Thursday night, get chemo all day Friday, recover at my parents' home on all day Saturday, and fly back on Sunday. Wow. So it was one of those trips where I was. Told when I was at LaGuardia Airport waiting to board that I was cancer free and I collapsed right there on the floor.

Wow. In the middle of strangers. And there was about three gates at gate B three, I'll never forget it, gate B three, when the doctor called me and says, Vernice, there is no evidence of macroscopic disease on your CT scan. Wow. And so I collapsed in the moment right there and. Of course, I didn't care who was around me, people were looking at me and a security guard came over and he bent down.

I remember him and I don't know his face. I, all I know is I remember his hand on my back and he says, ma'am, are you okay? What's going on? And through my tears and my hysteria in the moment, I said, I was just told I was cancer free. Wow. And he says, well, we got a lot of people around here worried about you.

Is it okay if I announce it? And I said, yes. Tell them. So I'm on the floor and I'm just in, you know, just imagine your twenties being told that you have a second chance to live. And he, I'm still on the floor, like kind of huddled over and he goes over, I remember seeing him through my tears, limp over to.

The, the mic where they announced, okay, your gate is loading, and he says, everyone, this young lady has found out here with us a bunch of strangers that she is now cancer free. I mean, the entire terminal erupted and, and, and claps, and people were coming by and hugging me. And so I didn't get to find out this news with my family and my loved ones and my parents.

It was with a bunch of strangers whose faces I remember. And um, so I would say from the time, you know, I know that this is the, the long answer to your question from the time I love it, started, started, um, experiencing symptoms was in 2000, end of 2008, 2009, to the time that I was told that I was free of macroscopic disease was August of 2010.

Amazing. I love that you took the long way around with that story. That is one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard, and I bet you those people will never forget that moment. They probably will never forget it either. Wow. How special? Okay, I'm gonna try not to cry 'cause I actually have some makeup on, but I feel, oh, you're gonna cry.

So you were in what year of medical school? IWI had just finished, um, my last exam of my second year of medical school. And I was starting my clinical, so I was in like that first clinical rotation when I was going through chemo, but when I found out I had just literally. Finished my last exam and I came home, came, went back to my apartment that I had, and it was a flashing red light on a phone that I never get messages on.

, I everyone knows to use my cell phone. So yeah, I didn't have a landline just because, and then I just like, you know, what's the, so anyway, I pressed the button and this is after I had done the CT scan. I, um. Had a biopsy done and I just figured they were gonna tell me, oh, reactive, you know, liver.

Right? I didn't know what they were gonna tell me, but in my twenties I didn't think I was gonna hear cancer and I knew I. From the sound of the nurse's voice on, you know, she didn't tell me on the, over the voicemail that I had cancer, but it was almost like this patronizing, kind of a singy voice. Hi Bernice, how are you?

And so I knew right then and there when I called back, um, I knew what I was gonna hear. I was gonna hear. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you know, that is so interesting because I was having this conversation with a client recently about her workflow in clinic and how she gives patients bad news. And I told her when I was in office practice, I would ask people before, because sometimes you just know there's a possibility of badness, right?

Mm-hmm. Yes. I said, do you want me to call you and tell you this news? Do you, how do you want. To handle this, like, do you want to say, Hey, come in the office? Because for me, if you call and say, come back to the office, then I know something's wrong. Mm-hmm. And then I'm tortured. Right. So it's just interesting to hear your experience with that and that all the emotions that came with it.

Because I actually don't know what the, what the best situation would have been like. What would you have preferred? Well, I will tell you, there is no good place. There is no good time. To hear that you have cancer. Yeah, never. You know, it doesn't matter if. You are there with the, the love of your life, your parents, your children.

Um, yes, they're there to support you, but you go into this mode, um, if you're, especially if you're not expecting it, you know, some people know they're sick or they've, they've had certain behaviors during their life that, you know, okay, I can understand why this has happened to me and I'm almost expecting it.

Um. So I was by myself. Um, there was no family around. I would say that maybe if you would've asked me at that moment, of course, I would've probably wanted to be around family, but I almost needed that time Yeah. To process things by myself without, um, hearing what everyone else has to say. Yeah. Because it's my body going through this.

And for me it was just time for me and God. Just me and God. and not everybody who wants to, uh, give you advice and encourage, you know, they know what to say. They don't always know what to say. And so I needed that moment for it to be just Bernice and God. Yeah. Oh, I thought so. In hindsight, I would say I was, you know, I thought that was the best scenario for me.

Yeah. Wow. Mm-hmm. Okay. So you got this news in the airport. You are like, I have this new lease on life. You go back to medical school. Mm-hmm. Tell me how did that affect the rest of your journey through medical school? So I initially was very ashamed. Hmm. I was very ashamed. I felt like I had done something.

I felt like, you know, okay, God, what did I do to deserve this? and then, you know, when people would ask about, okay, why are you flying back and forth so much? Um, I would make up a different excuse each time. I would, tell 'em whatever I could to just escape the anxiety of the moment of having to tell someone the truth.

Well, I had a friend, um, in Atlanta, who I connected with. In the first two years of medical school, we just kind of said hi and bye. But then during the rotations, I I, she posted something on Facebook, you know, Facebook was the thing at that time. It's saying that she was in Atlanta. I, um, reached out to her and I said, Hey, where are you?

I'm here. You know, and so I, so I took a chance and told her I took a chance and told her over a meal and. She started crying and in that moment I thought she was crying for me, but she said, I am so encouraged. I'm so, I can't believe it. This kid, and she started talking about the her dad's illness and. I was happy for her.

What? This is my own moment. And so when I, so with each, with each, uh, opportunity that I had to share with someone, and I pushed past my own insecurities about someone knowing, yeah, I found out that they benefited, they started to benefit more than I expected them to. Here I was looking for, I don't know if I would say sympathy, but I was looking for, for support.

Tell me something to help me get through this journey. I'm the one going through chemo, but then they would. Talk about how strong they feel and how they recall what I've gone through and the way I've gone through it. And so the more that I shared and the more that I empowered people, the better I felt.

It was like fuel in my tank even to this moment. And so I, over the years, beg, begin to strip back the shame. Strip back the anxiety of telling people to the point. Now I can't wait to tell people. It's, it's like almost like a banner that I wear. It's no longer the scar that I thought it was. And so, um, initially I started, I, when I went through chemo, I lost my hair.

I started wearing wigs and I was very anxious about that. I was still trying to maintain my health. And I think one of the defining moments for me when I was in Atlanta, I remember I was trying to, you know, the doctor encouraged me to maintain, um, my routine. So I was going to the gym and. It's hard going to the gym with a wig on your head.

Mm-hmm. And so one day I just went to the gym with the, and I had two wigs. I went to the gym with one of the wigs and I sweat it out and I found a hairdresser who was willing to wash it and clean it. Mm-hmm. And care for me to wear it again. Well. I went to the gym with the second wig. I forgot that the first wig was in.

It was with the hairdresser and I, I just moved on with life. I'm a medical student. I'm not thinking about wigs. I'm still taking exams. I wasn't given as, because I had cancer, I still had to study. So now I had two wigs down. I had a weekend before school started again. This was one of the weekends where I didn't have chemo and I, um, now I'm rushing over to her to take the second wig and asking her to clean it.

Well, she finished the first one and she said, um, well, you can come pick it up at the beauty salon. And I said, I can't walk in there with no hair. I cannot walk in there with no hair. Well, how I dropped it off to her in the middle of the, in the summertime, the Atlanta heat was with a, a hoodie.

So I looked a little bit like a robber, right? Well, uh, I asked her to meet me in a gas station and I sat in a dark corner of a gas station and I, she understood why. And she pulled up and she was holding the way. She had this, uh, um, little bit of a, it wasn't a cap. She had a protection over it and she was walking to the car and there I am with a bald head sitting in the car and I tried to make myself look more feminine and I put up, put on makeup.

And this woman, this stylist, she started screaming in the parking lot looking at me. She had the wig, said, oh my God, you're so beautiful. You don't need this wig. I'm like, gimmie that Wig. She says, you're so beautiful with here. I, you know, maybe the makeup kind of looks similar to what it is now.

Just imagine me with no hair and I'm, I'm there. People are now drawn to. This commotion in the corner, in this dark corner, and I'm just trying to my best to snatch it from her without getting out the car. And she's just like shaking it and said, I can't believe it. You don't need this wig. I need to put it in the garbage right now.

And so I took the wig, I thanked her, I sent her, um, the money virtually, and we pulled off and she continued to send me text messages. The text messages went crazy about a half hour. So I figured she had a half hour to get home and then she just kept going. And so I had a little bit of a ways a drive home, 'cause everything in.

Georgia, it is just, you have to drive an hour to get, and so I'm seeing her text messages. I'm looking at the messages on at the red light, and I took the wig off at the red light and I put it back on the mannequin, the white styrofoam mannequin. I. And I said this, let me see if this lady, if she's exaggerating, just to make me feel good.

Now, I was all dressed up purposely just to pick up this wig, just to look feminine, and I had makeup on. I said, let me go someplace that I'll never have to go again in hopes that I can get honest reactions. Okay. This was a Walmart that was about a half hour for me that I know I would never have to, I walked in there and people were stopping me left and right thinking that I was a model, thinking that I had purposely done this.

No one else, no one mentioned anything remotely about, oh, you look sick, or they thought I had purposely done this. And it just so happened that it was a time period where models had purposely shaved their head. And so people started to celebrate this thing, this scar that I thought was just going to be the worst thing that has ever happened to me.

And so that's just an example, but there's multiple times, even in meeting my husband and getting residency where having cancer and sharing that story, uh, exponentially helped me grow, open up the door of opportunity even to this moment with this bag line. It has been one of the best things that I have been able to, um, turn into a badge of honor versus the scar that I thought it was the hits.

Keep coming girl. I can't wait to ask you more questions. I can't wait. So, since you mentioned it, that was gonna be my next question anyway. Tell me about how you met your husband. Oh, yes. So, um. I love that man. Well, good. Yeah, so I, um, I met him in medical school. I started a rotation. This is another rotation I started at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.

And this was a time where I was kind of, uh, I, I had finished chemo, but I was still, um, doing the CT scans every six months just to make sure that I was. Had remained cancer free, and I was still very nervous about sharing this now because this is the next level. I'm, you know, I'm, I'm back on the dating scene and I'm surrounded by other, medical students who understand the implications of dating someone who is a cancer survivor.

Well, um, just prior to to meeting my husband, I remember I went on a date with a, a marine biologist, a very smart guy, very attractive. Um, there were some things about him that I wasn't crazy about that I would think I would've been willing to get over. But I told myself, I said, let me just try telling him and see what he respon, you know, what his response might be.

And this guy is someone who pursued me for several months and I finally gave him a date. And during that date. Which may have been too soon. I told him that I was a cancer survivor. Mm-hmm. Uh, what I didn't know, but later on I found out that his father had passed one year prior from, um, brain cancer. And so I never heard from him again.

And so that caused me to clam up. I was like, oh, well I can't tell anyone this. well, about six months to a year later. I am starting this new rotation and now, now my hair's grown back. Now it's almost down, you know, it's past my shoulders and now I feel like this new lease on life. Yeah.

Walking around and it's my hair and so I was dressing very nice, going to my rotations and one day I'm in the elevator with this guy listening to music. I didn't even know he was a medical student, just. Doing this I didn't think anything about it until when I get to the class, because we had these grand rounds.

He, he follows me in there. I was like, okay, well he's in the room. I guess he, I don't, you know, I didn't know who he was 'cause I hadn't seen him before. But, um, well actually I did see him before during the orientation, but I didn't, I didn't register at that point in time. We would have breaks during grand rounds.

'cause one day a week or maybe every other week, we would have these day long or maybe four to five hour lectures. So you remember the that, right? Yeah. Um, and every once in a while I would take a peek at him. I thought he was attractive. I saw that there were other women looking at him and sitting next to him and having conversations.

But one day I was in the library, he came into the library and he just. Struck up a conversation and we were talking loud in library, and now those students like sh So we walked out into the stairwell and then we continued our conversation there. And so maybe about a day or so later, I, he walks past me in the hallway, says, I have something for you.

I'll put it in your locker. Well, I found out later it was a letter that he was putting in my locker and he, Would sign these letters, guy in the stairwell. So I opened up my locker, uh, and I see this letter that said Guy in the stairwell, so I knew it was him. So for a couple of days I didn't even know his name.

I just knew it was guy in the stairwell. So he was sending me little letters saying, hi, I noticed you nice outfit today, or something like that. And then I would respond, thank you. And then one day I'm walking to Dunking Donuts during the break and he cut catches up to me. We have conversation. And on June 29th, 2012, we went on our first date at, um, Connecticut Muffin in Prospect Park, um, Brooklyn.

We've kind of dated for some time we were separated sometimes due to, uh, rotations in different locations. But in 2015, on my birthday, January 31st, uh, with surrounded with my family, he asked me to marry him. Yay. He asked me to marry him. And then we got married, um, later that, sorry, this was set, this was January, 2016 and we got married September, 2016.

The story of him finding out about my journey with cancer was quite miraculous too. But if, if you would like me to share that, I'll tell you that too. Go ahead. Yeah. Share away. So, um, when I first, um, uh, started dating him, I kept telling him there's something I wanna tell you, but I'm not ready yet.

And my husband is not, you know, if you tell me something like that, I'm gonna ask you, what is it? What is it, what is it? He was like, okay. And in my head I'm like, that's all you are not gonna ask me. Okay. Um, so I let it be, you know, and I just kept telling him this over and over for like three to four months, maybe two to three times a week.

I would just say something I wanna tell you. It's just, well, one day, uh, we had planned to go to a Thai restaurant in Washington Street in Brooklyn. Very, uh, popular Thai restaurant. And I, I, I told him again, there's something I wanna tell you, but I'm just not quite ready to tell you.

And I don't know why I tortured him like that, but because knowing me, I would've, I would've begged to know. And he says, okay, what is it right now? Tell me. And I kind of froze and said like, okay, you gonna make me tell you? He was like, yeah. And so I just kind of froze. I sat there, stared at him. He looked back at me and we said, nothing like 10 seconds.

He waited for me to say something. I didn't say a word. And so he started to guess. He said, well, is it, you know, are you married? Do you have kids? Like he just started naming everything. I said, no, no. And he, the tears have come. He was like, are you sick? I'm like, no. What he, and then I kind of, because I hesitated, he says, does it have something to do with your health?

And I said, yes. And so now he starts to think of all of the diseases that he can think of. And then he says, do you have cancer? And I said, not anymore. Mm. And so I said, I'm a cancer survivor, and he said, you put me through this for, and you don't even have it. He said, put your shoes on and let's get something to eat.

And that was the best response. I started to cry because I'm just, I was just so overwhelmed and I was, yeah.

I had so much, um, anxiety around telling him I thought I was going to be rejected, and he did just the opposite. He was upset that I didn't tell him and thought that I would be, yeah. So we get in the car, we drive over to the restaurant. He doesn't ask me what type of cancer. He doesn't ask me how do I feel.

He is just talking about. What he's gonna eat. We get to the restaurant and he orders, I'm looking, I'm staring at him like, you're not gonna ask me anything. What, what kind of medical student, what kind of doctor? And, um, he's, he ordered some soup and it just like his face was buried in the bowl, just eating.

And then I stop and I said, you are not gonna ask me. He said, well, well, you wanna tell me If you wanna tell me, go ahead, tell me. And I said, well, I had lymphoma. He says, how do you feel now? I said, I feel great. He says, what medications are you on? I said, I just take vitamin D. He's like, oh, okay. You wanna go to the movies?

Like, you're not gonna ask me anything else. And so I kind of just said, okay. He was like, okay, you want me to be sad? You want, what? Would you like me? Right. It's like, what do you want from me? He was like, and then he kind of like stopped. He was like, okay, I understand you went through a lot.

I understand that it was a huge mountain to get over. He said, you, you're not giving me a whole lot to reject you. You know, this is not something he says, anything can happen. Life is not marked right. He said, I can go outside and get hit by a car. And so that was the one of the best gifts. And in that moment.

I felt the love I had for him just multiplied by seven. Yeah. That is amazing. You have the best stories. I was, yeah. All thinking this like, you need to write a book or somebody needs to make a movie. Everyone tells me that. Yeah. Well, good reason. Okay, so you meet this medical student. Mm-hmm. Tell him you, you all in love, you get married.

When did the babies come? Like, what situation were, were y'all in residency attending Hood? What was it? So, um, we got married on a very stressful time in our lives. We were both in, uh, residency at the same time. We were both in residency. Um, and you know, there's challenges that come with residency and we were at the same residency, right?

Oh yeah. Um, and so, um. That was a huge benefit, but it also can, you know, be people kind of compare you and people look at you as one package versus two different residents. And, well anyway, uh, we got through that. Um, maybe about. Uh, okay. So my son was born in June, um, about one year after I finished residency.

And he finished residency a year after me. So one year after I finished residency, and he was towards the tail end of his residency. We had my son Elijah. Um, I had some challenges there with my blood pressure. So he was delivered via c-section maybe about 10 days earlier than what was expected. Yeah. Um, and then after the delivery.

My blood pressure shot up. I had preeclampsia. I had to be readmitted to the hospital. Um, and I was a really bad patient. I did not wanna be admitted to the hospital. You know, doctors and nurses, we are. Mm-hmm. Like, and because the same doctor that, uh, delivered me was also my, he trained me to do c-sections and deliveries.

He. Kind of talked to me like, you know, that, that, uh, father figure said, listen, brown. This is not what I taught you, you know, better. And I'm like, oh, but Kenya, but it's my new baby's at home. And so he, um, was able to accommodate my son to be readmitted with, with me. And so they kind of brought the nursery, you know, right, right, right to the OB unit.

And they kind of spoiled me a little bit. Uh, they treated me very well. And so that was in 2019? Yeah. Well, I was an attending in Virginia two years later and I delivered my daughter, um, same doctor, so I, yeah, we all went back to New York because we trusted him, and I delivered my daughter in 2021. Okay, so I wanna go back to this readmission.

Okay. And just say, I'm glad that you got treated well. Mm-hmm. However, accommodating women who get readmitted to have their babies should not be a perk that you get just because it's true. Right? It's true. Like, so I'm, I'm glad you had that, but that should be standard for everyone because a lot of people get readmitted.

Yeah. I can't even imagine being like, well, I mean, my baby is. Not here. So I, I've, I've definitely had patients say, 'cause I'm ob, like, yeah, I don't wanna stay. Like, no, no. We make it happen. Yeah. So when you were considering. Pregnancy and all that. Was your cancer diagnosis ever, did it ever play a part in the decision making or was it just kind of behind you?

How did that play out? Absolutely. It was, it was huge because, you know, prior to starting chemo, the doctors, the oncologist has to tell you all the risks that are associated. And I remember the, oncologist telling me that there's a 15% chance that you would not be able to conceive, after having.

Chemo. And so that was a huge concern. Now I had six rounds of chemo. If I would've had to go longer, that risk of not being able to have a child does increase. So I was very blessed to be able to have two children, after chemo. Yeah. And did you all have to do, did you do any testing or anything, or you just tried?

Yeah, so, um, prior to my chemo. I reached out, which is another miraculous story. I won't go into too much details, but I reached out to a cutting edge endocrinologist, a reproductive endocrinologist. Unfortunately, at that time as a medical student, I could not afford the the treatment, so I reached out to, I told my, I said, listen, if it's going to be someone who helps me, it's gonna be someone where money really doesn't matter.

And so I reached out to someone who was the head of the reproductive unit in the Lenox Hill in Manhattan. Mm-hmm. And I, uh, I remember calling his office and the secretary says, and I tell her, you know, um, I'm looking for an appointment. I didn't give her too many details, but I tell her that, uh, I was looking for an appointment.

And she says, the appointments were she, he was booked out for almost six to nine months. Wow. And so I said, okay, thank you. I hung up the phone. And then I called right back and I said, um, can I tell you a little bit about me? And you can kind of hear on the other end. She goes, okay. So I, um, tell her, I said, you know, I'm a medical student.

I was just diagnosed with stage three lymphoma. I have three weeks before I have to start chemo, and I would love to be able to have children. Is there anything that can be done? She says, hold on. She gets back on the phone, she says, can you get here Thursday? And I said, yes, I can get there Thursday. Well, anyway, initially, I preserved eggs, but then when I got married, I, um, had a consult with a, Embryologist who.

I did some testing with an OB and in conjunction with the embryologist, and they decided that my reproduction, my, um, A A MH was good. A MH mm-hmm. Was good. And I didn't necessarily need to use those and it, it got kind of expensive, you know, storing those. So I got Sure. I got rid of those. It was a huge risk.

Um, at that point in time, I'm married, I discussed it with my husband and he was in agreement with, you know, our physicians and we had excellent care, excellent care in New York. And the doctor said, okay, you know, I'm willing to take the chance with you. And then Elijah and Gabrielle came, you know, and we never use those eggs.

Yeah. That's amazing. Thank you. Let me tell you call Shonda Rhimes, skip the book deal and go to Netflix special. Yeah, because you have an amazing story. Okay, so you had preeclampsia. Now you're home with the baby. How was your postpartum journey with your first.

It was challenging. Uh, it was very challenging. What I will tell you is I have a, I had a lot of support, a lot of support. Uh, from my husband. now again, he was in residency, so there was some limitations. He was still doing 24 hour shifts, so sometime his support came calling in the middle of the night saying, are you okay?

But Right. It's not putting the baby to sleep, you know, and I, and I understood that, but my parents were very supportive, my sisters, my in-laws. Um, I had just a lot of support from different people, but my challenge wasn't getting the support that I needed. My challenge was my, was me. My challenge was me because I had gone through so much with my health.

I was afraid of everything with my, with my son. Um, I was afraid of the most unreasonable, the most unreasonable things. And even now I battle those, those concerns when I leave to go to work. I'll just imagine things that I have to literally shut down in my head. Um, my daughter falling down the stairs or something weird, you know, that's just unexpected because what happened to me in my twenties was so unexpected, and now that that is a possibility, the unexpected happening, I have to shut those thoughts down in my head and pray them away, or replace them with other thoughts.

So it was very challenging during that time because I, I was afraid of, um, you know, SIDS sudden infant death syndrome. I was afraid of, you know, when I took him to the regular checkup, the doctor was gonna find something that, you know, I, I didn't see before. And then, even though at that point in time I was an attending, my emotions could not let me process things.

My, what I had learned. You know, and I would go to the doctor, take my my son to the doctor, and just be vulnerable, like putty in their hands. And everything I had learned just went outta my head. And now I understand why we shouldn't treat family members. You don't think, right. You do not think straight.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So that was a very challenging time, but it was mostly about me getting over me. Wow. So during that time, mm-hmm. When you, your new mom, you don't know what's going on. All of your family medicine knowledge has leaked out of your brain.

How did you make it through that time? All of my challenging times. from the time that I started, from the time I was diagnosed with cancer, even up until now, is just, I feel my time with prayer around the clock, around the clock , that is what centers me. That is what I feel is the thing that will excel me. And so I fill my time with prayer. I get up through the night, I did last night, um, three, four or five. It doesn't matter if I have a seven, 7:00 AM shift or 6:00 AM shift.

Um, I'd rather be tired through the day and know that. I have that covering that I've done what I need to do for God to, to, to open the door to be able to answer my prayer. So that's how I deal with it, and that's how I have peace in just releasing things and knowing that it will all work out. Beautiful.

I could probably use a therapy session too. I am not opposed to therapy. It got me through my very difficult postpartum time where I had undiagnosed postpartum anxiety and depression probably too. Um, I. So it's, it's another layer of support, if you will, that you add on. So, yeah, it's, it's a tough time, man, and especially for us as physicians.

It's like you already have this baseline, you know, everything must be perfect. There's a little bit of baseline anxiety, a little bit of baseline, everything. And then you add a baby. Yeah. So, when you were an attending and you had your daughter, y'all were in Virginia at this point where you are right now? Yes. Okay. So we had Elijah, we were, when we had Elijah, we were living in New York. Then we both, Moved for work to Virginia. Now, before we got married, my husband said he always wanted to move south, and now Virginia is not as far as south as he would've liked it. But it's a nice, uh, you know, my family's originally from New York, so I, I didn't wanna be too far from them. Yeah. Uh, so we moved to Virginia, and then in Virginia, that's when I conceived, um, Gabrielle.

But when it was time for delivery. We went back to New York to deliver with the same physician that we delivered the first time. Mm-hmm. That's amazing that you had that kind of relationship with him that you would go back to deliver and, and did you have another C-section? I had two C-sections, yes. Tell me about that decision.

Was it ever an option for you to try for vaginal? I, so the first time with Elijah, it, uh, we tried, but he wouldn't descend. Every contraction said would go back up, so I said, okay, well, you know, and I didn't want to do a c-section, but this doctor, um, his name was Dr. Anke, I really trusted him. Yeah, it's one thing to trust someone when you don't know and you just say, okay, he delivered a baby.

But when you have been first assist and you. Delivered babies with him. , The very first baby, I delivered with him, he was in a C-section. And he said he was coming. He was coming. He was coming. Well, that C-section took a little bit longer. Next thing you know, he's walking in the room and I have a baby and I'm an intern and I'm there shaking.

He's like, it's okay. That's how he talks. It's okay. I am here. And meanwhile I'm like holding the, as an intern. As an intern. So, I've seen him, deliver c-sections in some very intense situations. He's able to keep everyone calm. Um, I, I personally saw , no negative outcomes. They happen whether the doctor does everything right, right.

Or not, but I trusted him. I trusted him. Yeah. And if I have another child, I'll find him wherever he is and say, okay, let's go again. But, for the second child, I. Around about eight months. My blood pressure just does whatever it wants. Mm-hmm. Uh, my feet were swollen. Yeah. And so I had a regular checkup and she was due in 10 days, um, from that checkup.

Yeah. But when I went in, my blood pressure was like one 60 over 100. Uh, I had no symptoms, but I, I was sw I was swollen. Swollen. Yeah. It was, it was like, when I would walk, I would feel the, the fluid in my feet and. He was calm throughout the entire visit. And then what he does is after you are finished in the exam room, he brings you to his office and tells you the plan.

He says, okay, go across the street, the hospital's across, go across the street and check in. We're having a baby today. I like shower in two days. That's what I say, no, why did you put that baby shower so late? Well, I, because just life and being busy. And then he says, um, again, he goes into that. So he calls me Brown, that's my maiden name.

And I was brown, I've taught you better than this. You know, you have to have this baby. You know this and you know that. And so I said, okay, Dr. Yaki. I go back out to the car, my mom is sitting in there and I said, ma, she's coming today.

My mother, she said, she said she didn't have her bag passed. What about my bag? What about the baby? She was like, okay, well, I'll tell you. Everybody just mobilized. Right. My husband was at work in Virginia. Oh. And he flew, and my husband is, he drives like he's flying. And so I, I didn't even wanna tell him I was delivering the baby.

Yeah. But my mom told him, and I don't know how he did it, but he got from Virginia. To Long Island, New York in like three and a half hours. Wow. He missed the delivery. He missed the delivery. My mom was there. He arrived maybe 15 or 20 minutes after, so it was really the blood pressure and their fear of what happened before with the preeclampsia and didn't want any issues.

So he said, let's just take the baby. Yeah. That happened July 8th. Wow. Amazing. Amazing. And now you have two beautiful babies. I have two beautiful babies and a business. Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, Dr. Bernice, you have such an amazing story and I feel like I didn't even scratch, like there's so much more, so much.

Not only do you have amazing stories, but you're an amazing storyteller. So I've just really enjoyed hearing all about everything that you have been through, and I'm amazed to listen to it and be in this situation where I could hear this story. So I wanna thank you for sharing all of it. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Of course. Is there anything that you want to leave our listeners with other physician moms who are just like you? I think that writing your goals down and coming up with a strategic plan of what it is that you want to do, what it is that you want to pursue, uh, and taking little steps on a daily basis.

Toward those goals because you don't wanna look back 10 years and say, I could have done this, I could have done that. Um, and you don't have to have this perfect mom life. While you're pursuing all of these endeavors, because one of the best gifts that you can give your child while you have your job as a physician and, and other, uh, entrepreneurial efforts is to show them how to have a goal and to pursue how to have a problem and get through how to have a purpose , and implement that purpose.

With excellence. That's one of the best gifts you can do. The life you model in front of them versus what you tell them to do. They do what they see, not what you tell them to do. And so that's one thing I want, uh, the physician, moms, the entrepreneurs to know to, to, and pursue that example before them. I just, I am smiling if you are listening to the podcast and smiling from air to air, because I promise you, doc, I did not tell her to say that.

You just said all of the things that I say all the time on this podcast. Mm-hmm. You heard her that that comes straight from her. It's not just me. Mm-hmm. Wisest words. I am so glad that I asked that question, so you can share that because it will help. Many physician moms get unstuck Absolutely. To get rid of the guilt of being away and wanting to pursue dreams.

And the most important thing that you said is that they will not listen to what we say they will do what they see us doing. They will treat themselves how they see us treat ourselves. So Doc, look at your life. Look at how you are caring for yourself, the things that you are doing.

Would you want your children to model that, right? That's the question to ask yourself. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Those were amazingly wise words and thank you for sharing that. Thank you. Thank you. So tell the listeners where they can find your wonderful, bags. Absolutely. You can find my luxury hand back line vre@www.vre.com. And that's spelled VIE. L-O-R-I-E. I'm also on an Instagram Viri, V-I-E-L-O-R-I-E. Amazing. And I have seen them and they are absolutely beautiful. Thank you so. If I was into handbags, I would certainly buy one, but I'm not.

But they are very, very nice and I really, I love seeing all of the exposure and everything that you are getting, and thank you. And it is just very exciting, um, because, you know, I'm, I'm rooted for everybody to follow their dreams and to step off of the beaten path as a physician, as a mom, and you are definitely doing it.

And now that I know your story is even more amazing, so thank you. Yeah. So thank you so much for gracing us with your presence, with your story. Thank too. Um, it's absolutely wonderful to have you and Doc, her information is going to be in the show notes. If you, even if you're not into handbags, go and check it out because you may see it and be like, well, maybe I'm not into handbags and.

Support your fellow physician mom and really take to heart the things that she shared there, because no words have been spoken. I want you to. Take the time to figure out what you want. Mm-hmm. What your dreams are, what your desires are, you know, write them down, vision, dream, because you deserve it and you deserve to do it.

Now her kids are three and five, y'all. Yeah. Three and five. These kids are small. You, you can do it too. You can do it. There is a way to make your dream happen. You do not have to wait until they're older, until the loans are paid, until the job is better. Mm-hmm. And make the baby steps now. And if you need help, that's what I'm here for.

Hit me up. Let's do a free coaching session. Toya coaching, this is what I focus on because everybody deserves to be living their lives like this. Um, and it has been absolutely wonderful to hear your story and to enjoy the stories. You know, it wasn't just hearing. I really enjoyed hearing those stories.

Thank you. Yes. And Doc, I will see you on the next episode of Stethoscopes and Strollers. Bye. Thank you. Bye-bye.