When You Get Handed Onions Instead Of Lemons To Make Lemonade
“They said I have cancer.” I couldn’t believe those words were emerging from my mouth. Tamia ran over to me and hugged me and let me cry into her chest. The warmth and comfort of her arms reminded me of my great grandmothers. I felt safe and felt that everything was going to be okay. She ran her hands over my shoulder and my braids and let me know that no matter what everything was going to be okay. All I could scream was “My kids, what about my kids, my kids need me. My kids!!!”
That’s all that mattered to me. It wasn’t about me living to live, it was about my kids. They needed me. It has been me and them for the last nineteen years. I feel like they are the only ones that understand me and me them. I am their mother, and no one can take care of them like me. We have a bond that is like no other. I just had to be there to see all of them grow up, get married, have babies, grow into their own, see my grandkids and even maybe the great grand. I just knew I needed to be there for them. No matter what.”
– Excerpt from “The Hustle Journey” by Eboney D. Thompson.
Cancer. A six-letter bad word to all those that hear it but a way of life for so many. On December 28, 2018, I came face to face with the word.
That day replays in my mind so much I feel like it’s on auto-replay. It was a normal day in southern California. My four kids and I were cleaning up the last of the Christmas mess and getting the house back in order. That morning when I woke up, I didn’t feel very well. I wanted to lay around and not do anything, but I knew the house needed to be cleaned. But the more I moved around the more labored my breathing became. I knew it wasn’t normal, but for the last couple of days prior, I hadn’t felt normal. I had gone to the urgent care office the week before he said that it was adult-onset asthma, so I figured it was a reaction to the steroids and breathing treatments. As the day progressed on my breathing became so labored that I couldn’t move more than three feet without thinking I was going to die. So, in panic mode, I went to the emergency room.
On December 28th I rolled into the hospital with shortness of breath. Two and a half weeks later I rolled out of the hospital with a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer that had metastasized to my lungs. So, what happens when life hands you onions to make lemonade? You write a book.
“The Hustle Journey” is my transparent autobiography about the process and the journey that I have endured thus far. As the reader, you get a chance to see my vulnerability, my fear, my mindset, and what I consider the most important: My overcoming faith.
I got the inspiration to write “The Hustle Journey’ while in the hospital after being diagnosed. I went from not wanting anyone to know except close family and friends to being motivated to tell the world. Because it’s all about the process. Anyone can start (even though no one ever wants to “start” cancer) but not too many finish or finish in a positive way. Why? Because they generally get lost in the process. I wanted to share with the world my process. To share that yes it is hard, yes you will cry, yes you will gain and lose things, yes there will be days that you want to give up, but if you just keep the faith and retrain your mind to find the silver lining in everything that is bad associated with the six-letter word, you can get through it and can overcome it.
Doctors tell me that I would never be healed from this, but I believe different. I believe that I am already healed from the six-letter word and this is just the process I must go through in order to help others overcome. That’s why cancer didn’t happen to me, it happened for me so that I could help and be the voice for others. And it the end of the day I can honestly say, I am okay with that.
Eboney D. Thompson is a passionate author, motivational speaker and Transformation Life Coach. She has self-published 10 books, which have sold across the country. Her collection of work includes poetry, inspirational devotionals, and self-help workbooks for women and youth.
Eboney is the founder/CEO of HNH Life and Visual Development, a consulting coaching business for people who want to regain their power and live the life and run the business that they have always dreamed of. Eboney also runs an Empowerment Group called Forever Beautyful. Her goal when working with women is to empower them to see, accept, love and be the best them inside and out. And she leads by example.
This October Eboney released her 11th book, “The Hustle Journey”, her transparent autobiography of her battle with stage 4 breast cancer. When the workday is done, you can find Eboney enjoying her life with her four children and her dog Zoey in Southern California.
