During this past year I met an incredible woman, Daphne D. Evans. She is CEO and founder of Heaven’s Door Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization out of San Francisco, California. Recently, I asked Daphne how this foundation came to be. Here is her story.
In 2005, Daphne was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. “The next day, I knew I couldn’t cry forever and decided to go for a gentle massage (with doctor’s permission). It felt so great and made me feel so ‘normal’ that I went back every day for a week. This was when I decided to help other girls. That they would never be alone in this and that I would pamper them as I would myself.”
Daphne espouses how important it is to nurture ourselves and to invest in self-care. When we are diagnosed with breast cancer, we tend to put all our energy into eradicating the disease. What if we invested in ourselves first? What if we treated ourselves to a monthly massage?
Ridding our body of disease is crucial. Once the words “You have breast cancer” settle in, we work like mad dogs to have it removed. From a scientific perspective, this is logical and necessary. Yet, removing the disease does not automatically restore our balance. We have to work at that.
Heaven’s Door Cancer Foundation is a wellness spa treatment and advocacy program for women with cancer and advanced life threatening illnesses. “To show them that our beauty is not defined by what we have lost, but who we are and the strength we have gained in the process. And this was the start of Heaven’s Door.” Daphne Evans says “most of the women we take care of are breast cancer ladies.”
Many women have benefited from this foundation nationwide. As Heaven’s Door grows, so does their outreach. They have touched the lives of others in a profound and positive way. For more information on Heaven’s Door, please check out their site, http://www.heavensdooropen.com/.
As I was writing this article, I decided to go ahead and treat myself to a hot stone massage tomorrow. Breast cancer takes from us; self-love through self-care is a way we can restore balance.