"the degree to which you can own your own darkness is the degree to which you can own your light."
Author: Melissa Eppard
I am a professionally trained and certified Life Coach with personal experience overcoming cancer as a mom in my mid-30's. After a diagnosis in 2014 I began blogging as a way to communicate with my family and friends, but it soon became much more than that. Writing was my lifeboat and connection with the outside world while immune compromised and healing from surgery.
Now I’m using my personal and professional experiences and living my dream of supporting others as a Healing Hope Cancer Coach. I help my clients understand their options, develop the best care team and a supportive network. Together we unpack the experience of having a cancer diagnosis, processing the emotional impact of a cancer. I offer stress reduction techniques to help manage fear and uncertainty, and coaching to support healing on all dimensions. After treatment ends, I help people find their personal roadmap through the pain and uncertainty, to a life fueled by clarity, personal strength and a connection to their unique life purpose. From diagnosis, through treatment and recovery, no one should go it alone!
I draw upon 10+ years of work immersed in holistic health and wellness. I was born and raised in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York and live there still with my husband and son. My survivorship blog Melissashealinghope.com chronicles my healing journey. You can learn more about my work as a coach at MelissaEppardCoaching.com.
Waiting for Results
It’s cancer. No it’s not. It has to be, otherwise why wouldn’t they publish my biopsy results on the patient portal. Why is no one calling back? It’s been over two weeks now. Where are my results? Then I think, this will change everything. And at the same time, this will change nothing. At this… Continue reading Waiting for Results
Why I Posed Nude on National TV
The vision came to me in the shower. I saw myself standing naked at the mouth of an open cave in front of a reverse halo of blackness. Charise was there too, crouched down to take my picture. I remembered seeing her at that art opening last spring, and the open invitation to do a… Continue reading Why I Posed Nude on National TV
Where’s the Awareness in Pinktober?
Putting more plastic ephemera out into the world is not helping to our world to heal, nor will it miraculously produce a cure. Follow the money trail on those pink proceeds. And the last thing a woman undergoing cancer treatment needs is a pink ribbon gift. A pink ribbon isn't a badge of courage. Each journey through a cancer is a personal one, and some may gather strength and a sense of purposeful focus from clutching a pink ribbon key chain, or celebrate life with a pink ribbon tattoo. That's cool. But let us look beyond the pink!
After Effects: The Scars People Don’t See
I'm still not ready to accept these permanent changes to the way I think, that whole chunks of my life's experiences are wholly inaccessible to me now. It's like a beloved photo album was punted it into the air and many of those key moments and conversations scattered, leaving sticky yellow rectangles and partially filled pages.
3 Main Reasons Why You May Be Afraid to Ask for Help, and What You Can Do About It
Most people have a really hard time asking for help. I was one of these people. It was far more natural to be in a position to helping others, than to ask for help myself. I was a lifelong chronic caregiver. This all changed after a breast cancer diagnosis when I was 33 years old,… Continue reading 3 Main Reasons Why You May Be Afraid to Ask for Help, and What You Can Do About It
Hidden Gifts
I'll never forget the day someone told me that, "there will be a gift for you in all of this." At the time, I was sutured and sore, and facing down a grueling 5 months of chemotherapy. I was simultaneously confounded and confused by that statement. But in the end she was right. There was a tremendous… Continue reading Hidden Gifts
I found the hidden key to post-menopausal weight loss!
I once canceled an appointment with the oncologist because I felt like I was too fat. Here's what happened... The Dr. had been telling me for the last two visits that it was in my best interest to eat a sugar free, mostly fruit and vegetable diet -either that, or take the drug Tamoxifen. The… Continue reading I found the hidden key to post-menopausal weight loss!
You Get What You Deserve: How my old couch taught me a lesson in self worth
Who cares about a couch, right? First world problems? But the couch serves as a metaphor about what we tolerate in our lives. It is easy to numb out and and get accustomed to our discomfort. Often the thing at the root of it is so close and so obvious that we stop seeing it.
Oftentimes we feel disempowered from making a meaningful change.
Rewrite Your Story
Storytelling has been one of the most powerful tools on my healing path. From the dark depths of shock to the dangerous ledge of the unknown, words planted an anchor to hang onto. Syntax sutured up the ragged edges of emotional and physical wounds. I can commit words to tell a story and rely on… Continue reading Rewrite Your Story
Melissa's Healing Hope 