By the time I was 40 I had survived three diagnoses of cancer. The first was very early stage cervical at age 19, then my first breast cancer diagnosis at 28, followed by a second breast cancer diagnosis at 38. During my treatments for breast cancer I endured a re-excision with sentinel node biopsy, chemotherapy, radiation, and eventually a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction with an emergency surgery for a hematoma.
While going through chemotherapy in 2001 I was exhausted and forced to lie on the cold tiles in my bathroom because I just couldn’t get back to my bed. It was then I decided I would never let something hold me back from doing what I wanted to.
When I turned 40, I was single without children and remembered the lesson I learned earlier about not holding myself back. So I took action. I left my job in corporate America to volunteer as an English teacher in Cambodia. That inspired me to change my life, for the better. I started my own company that works with NGOs in Cambodia to hire young women and men who were rescued from human trafficking or extreme poverty to make clothing, jewelry, and accessories that I sell online in the US. I’m using a portion of the sales to fund scholarships for at-risk young adults in Cambodia, and in the long term I'm hoping to fund rural health clinics to provide basic care.
While my circumstances varied with each diagnosis, one thing didn’t, my hope. What I’ve hoped for has changed over the years, but it is the one thing that sustains me to this day. In remembrance of this, the items I’ve created are sold under the brand Sangkhuem, the phonetic translation for “hope” in Khmer. While cancer took some things from me, it strengthened one thing - my hope.
New York, NY
