Ep 03 - Faith and Perserverance: Latoyia's Story

In this episode of Health, Healing, and Hope, host Natiki Hope Pressley introduces a new segment called Shared Stories, where members of our community bravely share their experiences of pain, perseverance, and healing.

Our very first story comes from Latoyia, who takes us through her recent journey with colon cancer—a journey marked by unexpected diagnosis, major surgery, chemotherapy, and the daily challenges of being a mother of four while navigating illness, separation, and life’s overwhelming demands. Through it all, Latoya’s unwavering faith, her community of support, and her own resilience carried her forward. 

This moving story reminds us that healing is not only personal, but also collective. When we share our stories with honesty and courage, we light the way for others.

Stay tuned until the end for reflections on the themes of this story: carrying others while hurting, the power of a community of care, and learning to live with scars as symbols of survival and strength. Latoyia is currently working on a non-profit, Scarred for Living, to support cancer patients and advocate for prevention programs.

Get the complete Reflection Journal for Latoyia's Shared Story

Because every story matters, every healing matters, and together, we are building a movement of Health, Healing, and Hope.

Transcript

0:01

Hello, hello, and welcome to Health Healing and Hope. I'm your host, Niki Hope Presley, and I'm so grateful that you are here. This space is where we get real about the journey of healing, physical, emotional, and spiritual. On this podcast, we share stories, reflections, and practical guidance that remind us we don't have to hide our struggles because healing begins when we uncover, reflect and embrace hope. Whether you're tuning in for encouragement, for your own healing or someone else, or you're searching for tools for growth or looking for community and support, I see you. I hear you, and I'm here for you. Together we're building a movement of health healing and hope one conversation at a time. So let's get started. I am happy to announce that this week on today's show, we're gonna introduce a new segment called Shared Stories. In this segment, I will share the story of someone in our community who was brave enough to offer their experience of pain, the trials and triumph for our encouragement, inspiration, and edification. Afterwards, we're gonna do some reflection. You'll have a chance to glean from the story to find out how it can help you on your journey. Okay. But before we begin the shared stories, I wanna do a quick recap Last week on health Healing and Hope, I talked about what it means to live uncovered. I shared that hiding is human. Yes. We hide because of fear and shame and judgment, or even the pressures to always be strong, to put on a good public face. Hiding only keeps us stuck, isolated, and disconnected. Instead, living uncovered starts with honesty first with us and then with others that we trust. It's about taking small steps like naming your truth that you've been avoiding. Checking on how you feel when you say it, when you say your truth, when you tell yourself the truth, what do you feel? And then allowing yourself to be vulnerable instead of pretending that everything is okay. I also introduced the Grace approach. It's an acronym for guidance, reflection, affirmation, clarity, and encouragement. These are practices that can help us move forward. In healing without hiding behind mask. The big reminder was you can't heal what you won't acknowledge. Healing is not about erasing scars, but learning to live openly with them, knowing that they are proof that you made it through. Well, now it's time for one of my favorite parts of today's episode. Shared stories, like I said before, this is where we pause. We wanna take time to listen to the healing journey of someone in our community. Each story is unique, each voice is powerful, and every testimony reminds us that we're not walking this path alone. With their permission, I'll be reading their words to honor their truth, journey and courage. And as you listen, I invite you to reflect what resonates with your own journey. When did their healing truly begin? What hope do you hear? How did they begin to uncover? And how does this healing story inspire you? Listen to this special music and prepare your heart and mind. This is shared stories.

Singer: 4:12

It holds within, it lessens hope and the undeniable truth that you are still. Here. Every challenge you faced, every scar you carry, and every obstacle you've overcome a part of a testimony that can light the way for someone else. When you share your story, you don't just release your burdens, you others to do the, you remind them that they're not alone Perspective. An inspiration in ways you may never fully realize. At Health Healing and Hope. We believe stories are medicine. They bridge gaps, open hearts and nurture communities where healing can flourish. This section is dedicated to honoring voices, yours, mine, and those of others who have chosen to give a voice to their story. And moving towards healing instead of remaining. And it is a seed of healing, a sparkle hope, and a reminder that every purpose.

6:53

Usually it comes easy for Latoya to talk about her story, specifically the past eight months. But the fact that it was so close to her birthday, it made it a little bit more difficult to put into words the immense gratitude that she feels to be alive in November, 2024, November 15th, to be exact, she went to the doctor after coming off of a once in a lifetime trip to Dubai a few days earlier. She went in for a scheduled routine colonoscopy. Her cousin, who had gifted her with the trip was with her at the colonoscopy procedure, and after they put Latoya under anesthesia, they took her in to do the procedure, and it didn't take them more than 10 minutes before she was back out. And once she woke up, the doctor told her that they couldn't go any further, which is why it was so quick. I. There was a tumor obstructing her colon. The doctor showed her the pictures and said it definitely looked like it was cancerous, but they would do a biopsy to be sure. She wasn't shocked. She was calm and just simply said to the doctor, I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. she asked him So. What do we do now, doc? It was Friday, early morning and he said he would like to keep her and prep for surgery on Monday. And from there, her journey began. She thought about how to tell her four children, and they were already dealing with so much. Her oldest was getting ready to graduate from high school in a few months, and she and her husband were separated for almost a year, and they had just told the kids six weeks prior to her diagnosis. As they ran different tests over the weekend and prepared her for surgery, they concluded that at best it was advanced stage three, possibly stage four colon cancer. She and her cousin began to contact family members, her mom, her husband, and some of her closest friends, just to inform them of the situation and what the next steps would be. The difficulty of having to handle the emotions of others about her diagnosis was immediate. Over the course of that weekend, she had a ton of visitors actually throughout her entire stay. People were in and out all times of the night. The hospital staff even commented frequently about how they had never seen that many visitors and how Latoya's room was considered the happy place. Filled with balloons, people, flowers, laughter, and visible love. They said that no one patient had ever had that many visitors in that short of a timeframe. That Monday, they operated on her for about five hours and the doctor was able to get everything he could during surgery. They discovered that the tumor had ruptured. And was coming out of her colon. It was lodged between her bladder and lower aorta blood vessel. They took out about a foot of her colon and removed the tumor, but also had to do. A colonoscopy surgery Since that day, and currently she has had this ostomy bag hanging from her stomach, That was probably the most difficult thing she said she had to process. By the grace of God, she was able to finally change her own ostomy back after. Almost two full months of not being able to look at it. She said it looks like a tongue sticking out of the side of her stomach when the bag isn't on, and she also said it's tough because I'm squeamish about blood scars and sores, anything like that. Thank God they got enough of the tumor to keep her alive to even start the recommended chemotherapy treatment. The doctor had informed her that if she hadn't come in when she did, the chance that she would still be alive in two to three weeks was slim. She stayed in the hospital for 10 days and by the time she came out, she had already lost even more weight than she lost in the past three months. When she got home, her daughter even said, wow, mom, they made you smaller than me. She laughed. Just grateful to be home with her babies. She wasn't home two days before going back to the hospital in tremendous pain, but this time it was for a quick visit. She had an appointment the following week with her oncologist to discuss cancer treatment plans. She agreed on the plan for 12 chemotherapy treatments, one every week. By the end of the week, she was scheduled for surgery to put the port in her chest. She said she doesn't know a lot about treatment for other types of cancer, but her plan was folfox. She would connect for chemo On Wednesday morning and spend five to six hours at Texas Oncology between labs and the chemo, and nurses administering different medications through the port. At the end of each appointment, the nurse would administer a large boost injection immediately after they would attach a small ball to the port in her chest. A device designed to slowly drip the chemotherapy treatment Over the next two days, with the ball connected, she would return home carrying this constant reminder of her ongoing battle, knowing that the medication was working slowly through her system. On Friday afternoon, she would go back to have both the needle and the ball removed, marking the end of that cycle. The process was a test of endurance, both physical and emotional, but with every cycle she learned to face it with courage and hope for better days ahead. And things were even more challenging as her responsibilities as a mother of four active children continued. She juggled multiple jobs to make ends meet. Assisted her mom with selling her house in Michigan and also dealing with a divorce while supporting her oldest son's preparation for college at 48. She was also dealing with the symptoms of the change, making this period feel even more overwhelming after about four or five weeks. She had to get a different port because the other side had been compromised. They removed the old one and put a new one in on the other side. At this point, all the scars, attachments, devices on her chest and stomach really started to get to her. She had no choice but to soldier on. Too much was at stake. For her to give up. She needed to be here for herself and her children, and that's what kept her going through neuropathy. Exhaustion and nausea. There were many times she would just go right to the five or six hour chemo day and then pick up her kids and run them to practice and then come back to manage her household. Besides having to get a different port about six treatments in, she had to get a PET scan to determine if they would need to do radiation. That scan showed spots on her liver. From there, she went to see a liver specialist. Then another MRI, she knows how good God is. The MRI showed nothing. Those spots that showed up on the PET scan were no longer there. The liver specialists were perplexed and decided to run a CAT scan just to be certain. The CAT scan showed nothing. They couldn't believe that there weren't seeing anything and that this was the first time. The doctor said in the 15 years of his practice, that he had seen something like this, which was nothing short of the glory of God The doctor performed. A laparoscopy and confirmed that what he didn't see on those latter two tests was correct. There was nothing. He instructed her to finish the last chemo treatment and then go live her life. She let him know that she had never stopped living her life, but now she can continue living without more treatments and no need for radiation. The week before her final treatment, her mom was diagnosed with lupus. She had been her primary caregiver throughout all of it in the span of just eight months. She had never experienced so many life altering challenges In the midst of it all, she was able to stand and go through it because of the mercy of God. And because of the army of people that went to war with her, supporting her physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially being the hands and feet of Jesus for her and her children, she said she has an elevated faith in God, but also in his people as a result of all the love that she was shown. She's still on the front lines and there's still a lot going on. But Latoya is confident that she will see the goodness of the Lord, and victory is seen every day she wakes up. Thank you Latoya, for offering your story. Your story is both tremendous, faith and perseverance, and a great encouragement for those who are dealing with incredible challenges. Every story reminds us that healing is not. Just personal, it's collective. When one of us shares our story with honesty and transparency and of course bravery, it lights the path for someone else to do the same. As a matter of fact, I shared my story on social media because someone inspired me. It prompted my decision to finally start this podcast. So thank you, Aisha. If you'd like to share your story for the shared story segment. Email me at info at your health healing and hope.com and briefly share your story with me and maybe I'll share your story next time with your permission. Of course, your voice matters, your healing matters, and together we're moving forward with health, healing and hope. But here's a few reflections from today's shared story, carrying others while hurting. Latoya described that there's a difficulty of managing her own diagnosis while she was trying to carry the emotions of her children, her family, and her friends to take on their burden. how do you balance supporting others while honoring your own need for care? Community of care. She also talked about visitors filled her hospital room with balloons, laughter, and love. Who makes up your support circle? The people who bring encouragement, presence, and strength when you need it most. And she also talked about living with scars. She shared the challenge of adjusting to scars for a port and colostomy bag. What reminders of past struggles do you carry physical, emotional, or spiritual? And how do you view them today as burdens? Or as a symbol of survival. For more reflections, visit your Health Healing and hope.com/shared stories to download a full and complete reflection journal for this shared story segment. Remember, healing is a journey. It is a process and it takes time. It takes your faith and commitment. If you enjoy this podcast. Can you please subscribe and share and connect on socials and download our resources. Until next time, be well. Be strong, be you.