Here is the crossroads. The new me in the old cocoon, on the doorstep of what's next. Trying to reconcile my world view, tipped on its axis. I step forward + still want to scream when I'm faced with holier than thou proclamations of how you can be saved if only I eat a certain… Continue reading we all want to be saved
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.
Waking up: The day after
I thought of this poem before I drifted off last night. I had written this shortly after my diagnosis last May. What a gift that we GET to wake up each day anew! No matter what you face, there are Gifts from God still to be had -tender morsels in each delicious moment. YOU are… Continue reading Waking up: The day after
A picture tells a thousand words
Healing and Waiting
When I see pictures of myself, I think of my breasts. Was this picture taken back when they were my true originals, untouched by the surgeon's blade? My eyes are telling too. Who was this carefree girl impervious to such destruction? I don't like to be touched across my chest. It reminds me of how… Continue reading Healing and Waiting
Loud Wishes
Plugged into the wifi -a dandelion seed plucked and devoid of nature mind naked in a lonely room and my devices pulling, pulling. breaching a wall of silence peeling back sounds and thoughts and urges There is nothing to be Done right now. Just me and my breath breathing commentary: My house is literally abuzz with… Continue reading Loud Wishes
2015 -Lighten the Load
What do you hold on to? to possess and label MINE? -or ours this stuff I shuffle room to room S-uffocating T-hings U-nder F-oot F-orever I'd like to peel them all off -layer by layer- see them lift up and float back to their source, my trunk, a store, a shelf, stuffy crate, rusty boxcar,… Continue reading 2015 -Lighten the Load
On Your Mark… Get Set…
Waiting to start, a splinter of light against a vast dark. What can begin to take hold in this barren yet fertile ground? Chemotherapy strips you down, like paint thinner washing out the last self portrait. On a cellular level, diminished as each and every dark internal corner is washed in an acrid bath. It… Continue reading On Your Mark… Get Set…
Water, my Dirty Little Secret
I'm guilty for relishing too long in a hot shower, getting licked and lashed by each lavish drop, distractedly brushing my teeth, preferring to wait and warm my washcloth. I don't want to take this precious commodity for granted, so casually slipping over and through my fingers down the drain. Next time I'll take her and hold… Continue reading Water, my Dirty Little Secret
Gifts You Can’t Find on Black Friday
I grimaced inside when in an attempt to comfort me, people would mention that there would be Gifts, unknown to me now, that this cancer diagnosis would bestow upon me. How could any of this be seen as a gift?! For my readers who know of someone newly diagnosed, please note that this is not… Continue reading Gifts You Can’t Find on Black Friday
Let it be KNOWN
I asked God to be K N O W N to me And suddenly Angels were everywhere They have been there all along! Little flecks of Divine in each and everyone It is the little spark of "I Believe" that gives us flight At times the spark may flicker and wane And the Angels swarm, encapsulating… Continue reading Let it be KNOWN
