October 9, 2025 • 44 mins
Join Dr. Lewis in a conversation with LaVonn Reedy Thomas, Consultant. Ms. Thomas is a lifelong communicator and leader who always seeks to inform, inspire, and influence others. Her career has taken her from the newsroom to politics, where she has worked on issues such as environmental justice, healthcare, women’s empowerment, youth employment, and nonprofit management. Email: lrthomas91@gmail.com
Success 4 Women is broadcast live Thursdays at 2PM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Success 4 Women TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Success 4 Women Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-4-women--3126970/support.
Success 4 Women is broadcast live Thursdays at 2PM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Success 4 Women TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Success 4 Women Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-4-women--3126970/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN
Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or comment should
(00:20):
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
W four WN Radios.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Success, Successful, Hard, Sunset.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Rise, Successful Women.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Well. Hello, Hello, Hello, everyone, and welcome to another inspiring
episode of the Success for Women radio and TV show.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I am your host, Doctor Madeline Ann Lewis, and as always,
this is the show where we celebrate strong, resilient and
purpose driven women who are defining success on their own terms. Well,
Today's episode is one that touches the heart. It's about courage,
(01:31):
faith and the power of healing. Our theme today is
a journey to healing and hope and I am honored
to have with me a remarkable woman whose story will
inspire you to find strength even in life's most difficult moments.
(01:51):
My guest is Miss Levaughn Ridy Thomas, and she is
a true example of resilience. She's here to share her
powerful journey through breast cancer, a story filled with challenges, breakthroughs,
and ultimately triumph. So, ladies, wherever you are, whether you're
(02:11):
watching on the YouTube or listening across the podcast and
cast networks, I invite you to settle in, open your heart,
and let Levn's journey remind you that healing is not
just possible, but transformational. So I'd like to bring on
my guests, Ms. Levon Reedy Thomas.
Speaker 6 (02:35):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
It is so great to have you here, to come
and just share with us, talk about something that you know,
a lot of people don't like to talk about, and
so that's why I'm so glad to have you here, Levn.
Before I get started, I just just tell us a
little bit about yourself, you know, just tell tell us
(03:00):
about levont.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh. Thank you so much, Doctor Madeleine.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
I you know, I love you, I respect you, I
applaud you.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
You are a.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Phenomenal woman in every sense of the words. So I
admire all that you are doing for women. And I'm
that kind of woman. I'm the kind of woman who
likes to celebrate women, work with women, elevate women, connect women,
(03:35):
teach women, engage women. And women is the spectrum, you know,
from the younger women college age all the way up.
I mean, somebody would say I'm a seasoned woman now.
Which is probably the most shocking thing about me, is
that I still see myself as you know, the younger levon.
(03:58):
But I'm grateful to be at this stage in my
life because it could have been a different conversation.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
A year ago.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
And so I am a creative I do writing poetry.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I've been a professional journalist. I paint. That's my work
right here behind me.
Speaker 7 (04:22):
A couple of my pieces, which is a new gift
that I discovered in twenty nineteen after going through another
difficult season.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a daughter. I
love Jesus.
Speaker 7 (04:37):
I mean, I'm nobody, probably any different than most people know.
I just try to be the person that God wants
me to be, and I try to be that in excellence.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
There you go, yes, and you do it very well.
And I tell you what, it's great to have you here.
And I wanted you to come because your journey is
both powerful and deeply personal, and I know it will
inspire so many women listening today. So let's start by
(05:11):
going back to the beginning, and that is, so, can
you take us to back to the moment you first
received your diagnosis, What emotions went through your mind, and
how did you begin to process what was happening.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
So I did my annual Mamma Graham November around my
birthday November seventh, and I didn't get the typical letter
that comes within twenty four to forty eight hours saying
that everything was great.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So that was a flag for me.
Speaker 7 (05:45):
I also had noticed that I had this swelling in
my upper right area, and I thought maybe it was
a pull or something something, so I said, So I
got a phone call and the person says, I said, well, hi,
(06:07):
it was from the radiology office. And I said, well,
is this a customer service call because I'm on the
other line and she said no, it's not really.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
A customer service call.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
And I was like, okay, Well got off the other
line and she said, well, we see something different than
your previous Mammograham and so we just want to bring
you in to be sure. I said, okay, in my
spirit in my deepest place that I didn't even know existed.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I kind of knew, okay, that's what this was. And
I didn't say anything when I went.
Speaker 7 (06:50):
I didn't say anything to the tech because I've learned
from previous experiences that you don't discuss anything with the text.
They're just there and they should not discuss anything with
you either.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That was my experience with a dental tech. And so I.
Speaker 7 (07:10):
Went in they she said, well, we want you to
come in as soon as you can. So I said, okay,
well what's available the way I typically go wasn't available,
so I said, I'll take whatever you.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Have in the area.
Speaker 7 (07:21):
So that's one of the things that I think is
important is you have to treat anything that's suspicious with urgency,
urgency right expeditiously, immediately, do not sit on it.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So I went in.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
That this was late November and they still couldn't find
I had to do another set of of mammogram images
and they said, well, we're not we're not sure. So
they wanted me to come back and do biopsy and
MRI and all that. So because I had two areas
(07:58):
on my right breast that were suspect, they brought me
back in January because I needed.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Like four or five hours to go through the process.
Speaker 7 (08:07):
And I could tell, you know, just for talking to
everybody and their encouragement, what was going on. And so
they called me a day or so later and said
that I had two areas. Of course, the lower area
was a stage one was a stage zero, and the
(08:27):
upper area where I had felt the swelling, was a one.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
They wanted to get me in to see a surgeon.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
And on collagist and me as quickly as possible, which
I did. I don't talk about the specific diagnosis that
I had because it doesn't matter if you have the
same type of anything, any kind of medical diagnosis. Everybody's
experiences different, everybody's response to treatment is different, the treatment
(09:00):
calls are different, so it's not really important.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
What's important is the stages. And so.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
We met with the oncologists, met with the express surgeon,
and the breast surgeon was great, but the nurse the
I forget what they call them, but she kind of
guided me through my whole treatment experience. I went to
Anerno Medical Center's breast health center and I had a
(09:29):
wonderful experience, no complaints. But she said to me, if
this were twenty years ago, your survivorate would be five percent.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I was like, did I really need.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
To know that no one knew.
Speaker 7 (09:43):
Yeah, So I'm sitting there with my husband and I'm crying.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
You know, I'm crying. So that was my reaction.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
I was good through everything else until she said that one,
because it was a place of gratitude to.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Know that so many women have.
Speaker 7 (10:01):
Endured this journey and were the models for the treatments
that we have today. And I have friends and family
who have succumbed to the illness, whether it was immediate,
whether it was after treatment, whether it was a recurrence, friends,
(10:23):
childhood friends gone at forty years forty something years old,
because of the personal choices that they made. And so
we started the regiment. I had chemo first, and then
by April. So I started the chemo in February was
my first one. After I had six rounds and halfway through,
(10:44):
they have you to go back to your surgeon, and
so my surgeon had a resident working with her, and
the resident.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Pulls up the.
Speaker 7 (10:57):
Machine to do the sonogram imaging and she's looking at
the axes and I said, oh, that's what geometry and
ALGEBRAU was for and no wonder I didn't uh, And
so they laughed, and she says to my surgeon, I
can't see the areas.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So the searcher said, what do you mean.
Speaker 7 (11:16):
She says, I don't see anything, and so my surgeon says, well,
let me pull up the original imagery. So she's on
one computer, so she sends it to I guess the
computer that the resident was on, and they did a
side by side and she said.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Levon, it's not there. I don't see anything.
Speaker 7 (11:35):
So I said, well, you know, the God I serve
can perform miracles, so I do see that. And so
she said, well should we? She said, I have to
allow you to make a decision about how you proceed.
And I said, well, what's your recommendation? She said, my
recommendations that we finished the rounds, and I.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Said, then I'm going with you.
Speaker 7 (11:59):
I felt like I was led to her and she
was there to guide me. So I'm not gonna challenge
and question and do all those things.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
My attitude throughout the.
Speaker 7 (12:10):
Process was I trust God and I trust the people
he's put in my past. But he said to me,
you should do natural treatment, not my thing. That's what
you want to do. I knew that wasn't for me
because I don't have that kind of discipline ray I need.
I'm the type of person that I want you to
(12:32):
hold my hand and tell me what to do. ABC
one two three. That was to me too much work.
I paid my husband, and I paid good medical insurance
for a long time, and you never used except for
the three babies that we had and maybe a couple
of incidents here and there.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So it was time to put that insurance to use.
And so it was good.
Speaker 7 (12:57):
And then chemo number five went well, and then all
hell broke loose. It was like my body was tired.
It was my blood pressure was low. I had no appetite.
Meat tasted like wood. Vegetables taste it like no.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Meat tasted like plastic for red.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
Weirdly enough, styrophoam and vegetables taste it like wood. And
so I had no appetite. I would eat whatever I,
you know, could tolerate. I lost a lot of weight
and they were very concerned, and so I was gonna
do a reconstruction surgery. But I saw the the plastic
(13:45):
surgeon and he said, if I were to do the
operation today, if you were to come to me today,
I would not do your surgery because you wouldn't make
it like I wouldn't make it. So so the original
plan was to do a double miss stacked tomy, so
it was not a genetic cancer. So I had that
ruled out as well. So that's important to know your
(14:07):
family history. And even if you don't know your family history,
you can get your genetic testing done once you get
to a certain age, check with your medical professional with
your health insurance, because that's good to know going in.
So I didn't have a family history of it, and
(14:29):
then they told me that I was not that I
did not carry the genes, and so they were concerned
about whether or not I can make it through the surgery.
So I said, well, I'm sticking with the double misstectomy
and if that's the best way, because I didn't want
to do radiation. I just wanted it to be over
(14:50):
with and I felt like the girls had served their purpose.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I was not a fan of them. I was well endowed.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
That's what That's something I do want to make sure
we hit on. Doctor Madeline is about body consciousness and
body confidence. And so when I went to the surgeon
the first time, and she said, typically with this type
of cancer, we would do a missectomy and maybe a
double mastectomy, depending on what your genetics and everything says.
(15:24):
She says, do you have a problem with that? I said,
you can have them. And so my husband said you
just you did not hesitate well. That summer summer twenty
twenty three, I had decided I was gonna if, I said,
if I get a job, it's gonna be so that
I can pay for a breast reduction. I always wanted one.
(15:49):
My mother talked me out of it. God created you
and his image and your body is fine the way
it is. And my husband's like, you don't need to
mess with those. They were good whatever I was tired of.
The gravity was starting to take effect, and I was
like enough. So when I saw Sherry Shepherd did hers,
(16:09):
I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go do mine.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The one thing I used to.
Speaker 7 (16:12):
Always say every time I went for my mammogram, every
time I cross my mind, I say, God, keep them healthy.
If you keep them healthy, I'm good, right, Just keep
them healthy well for whatever reason, then stay healthy. So
I got a reduction reduction with no reconstruction because it
(16:35):
was it's a. The process that's required during the initial
surgery prepares you for the reconstruction, and I just physically
wasn't able to endure. So I really didn't have an option.
So that led me to July last year. I gained
(16:56):
a few pounds, they were able to give my blood
pressure maintained through Madison, and I got round six and
then did the double mistectomy and I went to ER twice.
Once I stayed overnight. I was there at the hospital
three nights.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
That was the worst. That was just before that was
between chemo five and six and.
Speaker 7 (17:22):
So. But the funny thing about the whole experience was
when I went to get the surgery, I wasn't supposed
to stay overnight, but my surgeon said something about my
energy just wasn't good for her when she came in
to mark me up. And as a matter of fact,
(17:44):
when she was marking me up, all I could imagine,
and then when they were taking the pictures of me
throughout the process, all I could imagine was when Kim
Fields did her breast reduction and they had it as
part of the storyline on Living Single, and she was
doing all that, and so that kind of motive, you know,
kept me in a good headset too, and.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So she so she didn't tell me she was gonna
keep me.
Speaker 7 (18:11):
So I wake up from the anesthesia and they said, well,
miss Thomas, we're trying to get you a room.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And I was like a.
Speaker 7 (18:17):
Room and she said, yeah, your doctor. The doctor wanted
to make sure you were okay through the night. Everything
went well, your vitals are good.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
She just felt like you needed to be tended to.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
Okay, that's so sweet.
Speaker 7 (18:36):
So I stayed and so it took them a while
to make the connection that the room was for the
same day.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And so once they finally got me a room, I go.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Upstairs and my nurse and my attendant their names were
Glory and Joy, and they told me that they actually
stayed after their shift because they didn't want me to
be caught up in the new shift tasks and they
(19:06):
had done or everything they needed to do, so they
just took responsibility for me.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I said, I'll take Glory and Enjoy any day.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Is that something?
Speaker 7 (19:16):
So that's how the end became the beginning.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Wow, that is that's amazing. Just when you think about
what you just said. Even the names of the two attendants,
Glory and Joy, that those were just blessings surrounding.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
I mean I heard that as soon as you started
talking about it.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
That's what so.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Tell us this.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
You know, many women describe that moment as life changing
for them, Like you know, especially when you first find
out about it and you're going to have to go
through either you know, the chemo or the reconstructive surgery
or what have you. When did you first find that
spark of hope that helped you to shift from fear
(20:05):
to faith.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I don't know that.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
It was ever a shift, as much as they stayed interconnected.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Okay, you know, I think.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
I feel like the fear part pushed me into the
faith that I needed. I mean, I've always been I
would say, you know, God didn't deliver me from any
kind of sinful lifestyles or anything like that. My journey
was always faith.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
God.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
I know you're gonna bring my family through God. I
know you're gonna help me get this tuition paid. God,
i know you're gonna give me this job. I'm actually
trying to put extra little dose of faith on now
because it's time for me to go back to work.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And so they were just interconnected. I mean I was with.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
My husband when when the radiologists called to give me
the diagnosis, and he was just exceptional. He's always been
very supportive of me, and so I felt like I
was not. I try not to live my life comparing
myself to other people, and as I said, every journey
is different.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
But I had to kind of.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Celebrate that I live in a three generational house. My
father is here with us, I have two young adult children,
and then my husband, and then I have a brother
and another son who lived close by.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So I'm not the typical person to go through something
like this.
Speaker 7 (21:44):
I had care for my family twenty four to seven,
so the only thing I had to do was have
a good attitude and follow doctors' orders and try to
eat and let people do. I mean, I did work.
I worked on a campaign for the from January or
(22:05):
February to May, so I would go out and do
campaign events.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So I'm grateful that I had the strength to do
those things.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
And they would drive me because the blood pressure thing
was kind of hit or minutes. For a minute, we
didn't know quite what it was, and so when I
didn't feel as strong, they would drive me. So I
never had to look outside of my home for support.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I had support.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
I had friends and my pastor and who you know
checked on me and called me and everything like that,
because I didn't broadcast if you know, I'm a Facebook person,
and I did not publicly let everybody know, oh yeah,
I'm going through breast cancer. If you saw me, you
knew something was happening. What I've learned is people are
(22:58):
very cowardly. You know, they'll look at you sideways and say,
oh girl, you look good, you lost some weight. How
do you talk about somebody's body. What gives you the
right to comment that I've lost weight. Well, you didn't
tell me when I was gaining weight, so what's the point.
And so for me, it was a thing of staying
(23:23):
in a space.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Of gratitude.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
Because you know, financially it was an extra bill in
my household, and once my campaign checked, couldn't even get
unemployment to call me back to get my money set up,
which probably worked out because I physically wasn't able to
do the computer to look for a job, and I
(23:46):
don't want them coming from me for some money. So yeah,
it was just a thing of staying in the right
mind frame and having hope and knowing that my body
is my body and it belongs to God and whatever
God has for me. But I think that other people
may struggle because they have other issues, they got to
(24:11):
go to work, they don't have anybody that's.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Readily available to support them.
Speaker 7 (24:17):
So my journey is very unique, and I don't take
it for granted.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I believe what I told God was, if I can.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
Run around Prince George's County, Maryland for all of these
years advocating.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
For this and that and campaigning for.
Speaker 7 (24:36):
Everybody that I've worked with, you give me healing, you
bring me through this.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
I will make sure.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
To put my modest mindset away because as bold as
I am with the things that you know about me,
doctor Madlin, I'm not that person who get out here
and talk about bread care.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I'm a very private.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Person when it comes to the physical things of life.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I'll tell you, yeah, you should go to the doctor.
Speaker 7 (25:09):
I didn't get my first mammogram at forty I need
get it at forty five.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I think I was fifty fifty fifty plus.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
My mother kept saying, you know, you need to go
get your mammogram, and I was like, yeah, okay, I'm
gonna get it. Im gonna get up and get it,
because my attitude was whatever was on the other side
of that, I need to raise my kids. So once
my kids get out of high school, I'll take care
of me. I'll do better about doctor's appointments and things
like that.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
So it was an agreement I had with God. So
he really made sure that I kept up my end
of the bargain and I did.
Speaker 7 (25:46):
I from twenty eighteen until when it was at twenty
twenty three, I had my mammogram every.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Year, and so that's just the first start is get
the it's better to know than to walk aroun Yeah,
question mark.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
And that's where you know, that's part of the healing process.
Now you know I'm they say in remission, I say
I'm cancer free because I'm not claiming nothing to come back.
And so but you know, every now and then you
get that little question mark.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Hovering around you, and you know, I'm off of the
blood pressure pills. So I'm good.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
My appetite is definitely back. I've gained a little bit
of weight. My biggest challenge is I can't get my
hair to come back in.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
The way it was. But you know what vanity is
not of God?
Speaker 7 (26:44):
Yeah, it's not of God, So fear is a very
real thing. But I do believe that fear is fed
by other circumstances.
Speaker 6 (26:56):
Yes, yes, Well let me ask you this.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
And I know you talked about the support, your support system,
you know, your family, your church, different things like that.
And often we know that women feel pressured to stay
strong even when they're hurting. How did you allow yourself
to be vulnerable to receive support from those around you?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah? You know.
Speaker 7 (27:25):
I have a couple of nick names among my circle
my family.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Fuss and boss and Sarge.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
And at one point I was the clean up woman.
I was to make it happen person. And so I
have to say that I felt a little why me
for a minute, right, And people always go, well, why
(27:58):
not you? God doesn't give you more than you can bear,
and God's gonna use this for his glory, And.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Honestly, I was just like God, I don't know how
much more glory you want from me.
Speaker 7 (28:13):
So my challenge was probably more emotional, and I felt
like something was being taken away from me. I really
didn't mind the cancer part. My thing was just the
timing was bad. Here I am out here trying to
get back to work. Life just was life and for
(28:37):
the past. But from twenty nineteen forward, you know, coming
through COVID and then family challenges related to COVID, and
just life was just being disrupted. And I just felt like, ooh,
I'm right here, I'm about to jump out. Twenty twenty
four is.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Gonna be my year. So what kept me grounded was
my faith, but just the just.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
The will that I want to live like I just
want to get to the other side of this. Every day,
every appointment, I sat myself down. I started watching muck
bang videos, the videos of people eating food, and it
really stimulated my appetite.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And I'm a visual person. I'm a visual learner.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
And when I was talking to my nutritionist, I was
describing how food tasted, and I told her about the
videos and how they were giving me ideas of what
to eat, like stimulating different taste buds in my mind.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And I've never.
Speaker 7 (29:52):
Experienced anything having to do with.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
An a rexio or baliem me or anything like that.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
But I had a new understanding of why they labeled
those things as psychological conditions, because you need all of
your senses, or you can use all of your senses
for eating, and of course people eat out of emotional
need too right. And so once I started separating at
(30:25):
the different elements of eating, it allowed me to eat,
and then that brought me through. That was probably my
greatest hurdle was trying to eat. I had plenty of
people to get me food, cook me food, but just
not wanting to.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Eat, and even drinking water. It felt like water was
getting stuck going down, and so you know it was
it was. It was just being an encourager to myself,
as you know. So I went through another health issue.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
In twenty eighteen, and I pulled on my poetry and
I started pulling together in anthology and I wrote some
anecdotes and it's encouraged my soul. And so I was already,
I believe, prepared for this space and time. So I
didn't have to I didn't have to figure out how
(31:24):
to be right. God opened me up to painting in
twenty nineteen. I hated not being able to paint, so
I did as much as I could until the neuropathy
just prevented me from doing things.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I kept a journal. I have a journal my whole journey.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
I wrote in it every day or almost every day,
and when my fingers wouldn't let me, you know, I
could keep things into my phone sometimes, So though this
was an encouraged of course, scripture encourages.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
You found a lot of.
Speaker 7 (32:03):
People on YouTube who do ministry that I would have
never known, or Instagram and just every now and then
you just plug in and look for that message to
encourage you.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Right.
Speaker 6 (32:14):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
So when you look back on your experience, what were
what were What do you feel were some of the
unexpected lessons or blessings that came from your journey with cancer?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Who the unexpected? I would say that I'm not a
patient person. I love a good.
Speaker 6 (32:53):
Debate mm hm mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
But I have learned that's not my fight. I have
learned to.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
I won't say let go of things because I'm just
a very emotional sensitive person.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
But I've learned to.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
Kind of park some things that may frustrate me or
some people who may have hurt me or bothered me,
and I've allowed God to.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Let me know when I needed to re connect with
those people.
Speaker 7 (33:31):
And there's still some folk out there that I have
not reconnected with.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
The greatest I would say probably blessing.
Speaker 7 (33:42):
And this, of course doesn't apply to everybody, because everybody
doesn't live in the house like I do.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I got to see my young adult children thrive.
Speaker 7 (33:51):
I got to see what we have instilled in them
set by example.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
As I said, my father lives here.
Speaker 7 (33:59):
My mom was here with us for two years during
her cancer journey.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
She passed away in February twenty sixteen.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
So my children have seen what it takes to support
My mother wasn't physically relying upon us for her day
to day needs.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
But you know, she wasn't. She didn't have to tend
to the house.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
All day long when as she did when she lived
where she did.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
You know, we we I.
Speaker 7 (34:25):
Would have to fix food for her sometimes and then
other times.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
She fixed food for us. So I got to see.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
My children really transitioned into adulthood and making decisions because
I wasn't gonna I wasn't keeping track of anybody but me,
and so it was if you're leaving the house, let
us know, but tom are you coming back. They took
care of the house with my husband. They you know,
(34:55):
grocery shop, They cooked. My daughter has just become this
fancy tasty cook which I don't cook.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
Remember her roomcake I do remember.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Now, And so that's probably the greatest blessing of it
all to have the opportunity to watch I saw Crystal
evans Hurst did a podcast about the role you begin
to play with your adult too. I think it was Crystal,
(35:27):
and she was talking about you become a coach, become
their coach, and.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
So that this is that last year I became their coach.
Coach so much so the.
Speaker 7 (35:37):
One dad had to tell my daughter, I said, you
don't even care about when mommy eats or anything. She says, Mommy,
you are fine. There's a difference between caring for you
and coddling you. Wow. So I said, oh, I guess
I'm recovered. Tom's going to get back to doing some things.
Speaker 6 (35:56):
No, that's right, I know that's right. Yeah, So tell
me this if if.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
If there are always there are always moments when hope
feels different. So what kept you moving forward though? On
those days that felt the hardest because I know you
had probably had a couple of those.
Speaker 7 (36:23):
Yeah, that one month in June, because it was it
was getting close to the wire on whether or not
I would be able to have the surgery because you
have to do your chemo and then you only have
a thirty day window after your last chemo to get
(36:43):
your surgery, and like I said, I wasn't scheduled to
do radiation. So my girlfriends and I'm glad you asked
the question because I wanted to mention that one of
the one of the statistics is that one in eight
women will have a breast cancer diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
I have a circle of friends.
Speaker 7 (37:04):
We were all turning sixty last year, so I called
them my sixty.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Sists. I can't remember exactly, but anyway, it was sixty.
Speaker 7 (37:13):
In a circle, and there are eight of us in
this in this little group, and I was the person wow.
And when I got my when I was suspicious of
the diagnosis, that was in November I think it was
it was November. No, it was January. I hadn't gotten
(37:36):
a diagnosis yet. And we all got together to celebrate birthdays.
And I'm looking around the table and I'm like, it's
eight of us, and I'm the one wow. And so
I felt like, if if this was my journey, out
of the eight of us, then I had to do
it the best to the best of my ability. And
(37:59):
so because we were all turning in sixty, we were
sitting at the table and I said, so, what's everybody.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Doing for their birthday.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
We all start talking because I'm the person that's always like,
we got to celebrate your birthdays. So everybody said what
they wanted to do, and I said, well, I want
to go to Disney World.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
I want to do adult Disney. They were like, so
a couple of my friends are.
Speaker 7 (38:20):
Big Disney people. They go with or without their kids
who are grown. They go with their own kids. And
so I said, yeah, so my birthday is November. I'm
I'm next to the last person in the circle's birthday.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
So we all planned to go to Disney.
Speaker 7 (38:34):
And so, like in the Super Bowl at the end,
the winning quarterback he says, they said, where are you going?
Speaker 2 (38:41):
He said, I'm going to Disney World. That was my goal.
Speaker 7 (38:46):
My goal was to get to Disney with my girlfriends
and nothing was going to stop me from living that
out because I'm not really a goal setting kind of person,
and so I wanted So when they were trying to
figure out some other alternatives to me doing the double mistectomy,
(39:07):
she said, my doctor said, well, if you do the
partial and then we do the reduction, you'll have to
do radiation and that's like ninety days. And I was like, oh, no,
ninety days I'll be celebrating my birthday in Florida.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Kept me, you know, of course, gave you the whole
extra thing.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So you have to build in incentives for yourself.
Speaker 7 (39:28):
You know, I would try myself to a smoothie. So
it can be different things. It may be going to
the beach in sitting out watching the water. I love
North Beach down in Calvert County.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
So well, tell me question if you had to give.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
Some words of it.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
You know, if you could speak directly to another woman
who had just receive a diagnosis, say today, could you
briefly tell us what words of comfort or encouragement would
you want her to hear. And because we're coming up
to almost the close right now, so let us tell
us briefly what you would tell that person if they
(40:18):
got a diagnosis today.
Speaker 7 (40:21):
I would say, if you made it through what you
believe is your worst situation, then you have what it
takes to get through this one.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
You got to be positive.
Speaker 7 (40:36):
If God brought you through something before, he can do
it again. If you're not a person of faith, you
believe that you've endured some difficult times and you went
through you pulled through it.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Pull yourself through it again.
Speaker 7 (40:53):
Absolutely trust yourself, trust yourself, always trust yourself.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Wow. Well, thank you. I want to thank you, thank you,
thank you for sharing your heart and your story so
openly with us today. You've reminded us that healing isn't
just about surviving. It's about discovering the strength and the
beauty within ourselves along the way. And I believe that's
(41:21):
what you did. So I want to thank you for
joining me today, not for show. So it's been. It's
been a pleasure. It really has.
Speaker 7 (41:32):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
And I tell you what, as I talk to the
audience now, as we close out, I just want to
say again, just wow, because what a truly moving I
think an empowering conversation this has been. You know, LaVerne's
story reminds us that even in life's most challenging seasons,
(41:55):
there is always hope healing. And you know, but healing
takes time, it takes faith, it takes courage, but it
is possible, and sometimes your healing journey becomes someone else's inspiration.
So that's why we're so happy to have her share today.
I want to thank you again, Levon Reedy Thomas for
(42:16):
being with us today and for showing us that success
isn't just about reaching goals, it's about rising strong after
the storm. Thank you so for all of you out there.
If this episode touched your heart, please share it with.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
A woman who needs encouragement.
Speaker 5 (42:35):
You can watch the replay on YouTube or listen on
Talk for TV, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, all the requisite
places that you can listen to if you just want
to listen only, But if you want to watch it
on YouTube are the Women for Women network you can
(42:56):
do that. I want to again thank Levon read Thomas
for being here with us today. This has been the
success for Women's show. Of course we are here every week.
I am your host, doctor Madelanann Lewis helping women to
accelerate the path to success. If you'd like to reach
(43:16):
out to me, you can reach me at info at
EXWSI dot com or you can go to my website
www dot EXWSI dot com. Again, I want to thank
Levonredy Thomas for sharing her story with us again, something
(43:39):
I hope inspired and encourage those of you out there
listening that may have gone through or is going through
the same thing. Thank you again to my viewers and
listeners for joining me, and you all know I love
you all to life and as always, be well and
(44:02):
stay safe out there.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
This is success.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Successful windomen had such that was women there rise about
who is sad? Tread some of them successful women
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN
Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or comment should
(00:20):
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
W four WN Radios.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Success, Successful, Hard, Sunset.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Rise, Successful Women.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Well. Hello, Hello, Hello, everyone, and welcome to another inspiring
episode of the Success for Women radio and TV show.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I am your host, Doctor Madeline Ann Lewis, and as always,
this is the show where we celebrate strong, resilient and
purpose driven women who are defining success on their own terms. Well,
Today's episode is one that touches the heart. It's about courage,
(01:31):
faith and the power of healing. Our theme today is
a journey to healing and hope and I am honored
to have with me a remarkable woman whose story will
inspire you to find strength even in life's most difficult moments.
(01:51):
My guest is Miss Levaughn Ridy Thomas, and she is
a true example of resilience. She's here to share her
powerful journey through breast cancer, a story filled with challenges, breakthroughs,
and ultimately triumph. So, ladies, wherever you are, whether you're
(02:11):
watching on the YouTube or listening across the podcast and
cast networks, I invite you to settle in, open your heart,
and let Levn's journey remind you that healing is not
just possible, but transformational. So I'd like to bring on
my guests, Ms. Levon Reedy Thomas.
Speaker 6 (02:35):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
It is so great to have you here, to come
and just share with us, talk about something that you know,
a lot of people don't like to talk about, and
so that's why I'm so glad to have you here, Levn.
Before I get started, I just just tell us a
little bit about yourself, you know, just tell tell us
(03:00):
about levont.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh. Thank you so much, Doctor Madeleine.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
I you know, I love you, I respect you, I
applaud you.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
You are a.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Phenomenal woman in every sense of the words. So I
admire all that you are doing for women. And I'm
that kind of woman. I'm the kind of woman who
likes to celebrate women, work with women, elevate women, connect women,
(03:35):
teach women, engage women. And women is the spectrum, you know,
from the younger women college age all the way up.
I mean, somebody would say I'm a seasoned woman now.
Which is probably the most shocking thing about me, is
that I still see myself as you know, the younger levon.
(03:58):
But I'm grateful to be at this stage in my
life because it could have been a different conversation.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
A year ago.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
And so I am a creative I do writing poetry.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I've been a professional journalist. I paint. That's my work
right here behind me.
Speaker 7 (04:22):
A couple of my pieces, which is a new gift
that I discovered in twenty nineteen after going through another
difficult season.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a daughter. I
love Jesus.
Speaker 7 (04:37):
I mean, I'm nobody, probably any different than most people know.
I just try to be the person that God wants
me to be, and I try to be that in excellence.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
There you go, yes, and you do it very well.
And I tell you what, it's great to have you here.
And I wanted you to come because your journey is
both powerful and deeply personal, and I know it will
inspire so many women listening today. So let's start by
(05:11):
going back to the beginning, and that is, so, can
you take us to back to the moment you first
received your diagnosis, What emotions went through your mind, and
how did you begin to process what was happening.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
So I did my annual Mamma Graham November around my
birthday November seventh, and I didn't get the typical letter
that comes within twenty four to forty eight hours saying
that everything was great.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So that was a flag for me.
Speaker 7 (05:45):
I also had noticed that I had this swelling in
my upper right area, and I thought maybe it was
a pull or something something, so I said, So I
got a phone call and the person says, I said, well, hi,
(06:07):
it was from the radiology office. And I said, well,
is this a customer service call because I'm on the
other line and she said no, it's not really.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
A customer service call.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
And I was like, okay, Well got off the other
line and she said, well, we see something different than
your previous Mammograham and so we just want to bring
you in to be sure. I said, okay, in my
spirit in my deepest place that I didn't even know existed.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I kind of knew, okay, that's what this was. And
I didn't say anything when I went.
Speaker 7 (06:50):
I didn't say anything to the tech because I've learned
from previous experiences that you don't discuss anything with the text.
They're just there and they should not discuss anything with
you either.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That was my experience with a dental tech. And so I.
Speaker 7 (07:10):
Went in they she said, well, we want you to
come in as soon as you can. So I said, okay,
well what's available the way I typically go wasn't available,
so I said, I'll take whatever you.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Have in the area.
Speaker 7 (07:21):
So that's one of the things that I think is
important is you have to treat anything that's suspicious with urgency,
urgency right expeditiously, immediately, do not sit on it.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So I went in.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
That this was late November and they still couldn't find
I had to do another set of of mammogram images
and they said, well, we're not we're not sure. So
they wanted me to come back and do biopsy and
MRI and all that. So because I had two areas
(07:58):
on my right breast that were suspect, they brought me
back in January because I needed.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Like four or five hours to go through the process.
Speaker 7 (08:07):
And I could tell, you know, just for talking to
everybody and their encouragement, what was going on. And so
they called me a day or so later and said
that I had two areas. Of course, the lower area
was a stage one was a stage zero, and the
(08:27):
upper area where I had felt the swelling, was a one.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
They wanted to get me in to see a surgeon.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
And on collagist and me as quickly as possible, which
I did. I don't talk about the specific diagnosis that
I had because it doesn't matter if you have the
same type of anything, any kind of medical diagnosis. Everybody's
experiences different, everybody's response to treatment is different, the treatment
(09:00):
calls are different, so it's not really important.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
What's important is the stages. And so.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
We met with the oncologists, met with the express surgeon,
and the breast surgeon was great, but the nurse the
I forget what they call them, but she kind of
guided me through my whole treatment experience. I went to
Anerno Medical Center's breast health center and I had a
(09:29):
wonderful experience, no complaints. But she said to me, if
this were twenty years ago, your survivorate would be five percent.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I was like, did I really need.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
To know that no one knew.
Speaker 7 (09:43):
Yeah, So I'm sitting there with my husband and I'm crying.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
You know, I'm crying. So that was my reaction.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
I was good through everything else until she said that one,
because it was a place of gratitude to.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Know that so many women have.
Speaker 7 (10:01):
Endured this journey and were the models for the treatments
that we have today. And I have friends and family
who have succumbed to the illness, whether it was immediate,
whether it was after treatment, whether it was a recurrence, friends,
(10:23):
childhood friends gone at forty years forty something years old,
because of the personal choices that they made. And so
we started the regiment. I had chemo first, and then
by April. So I started the chemo in February was
my first one. After I had six rounds and halfway through,
(10:44):
they have you to go back to your surgeon, and
so my surgeon had a resident working with her, and
the resident.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Pulls up the.
Speaker 7 (10:57):
Machine to do the sonogram imaging and she's looking at
the axes and I said, oh, that's what geometry and
ALGEBRAU was for and no wonder I didn't uh, And
so they laughed, and she says to my surgeon, I
can't see the areas.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So the searcher said, what do you mean.
Speaker 7 (11:16):
She says, I don't see anything, and so my surgeon says, well,
let me pull up the original imagery. So she's on
one computer, so she sends it to I guess the
computer that the resident was on, and they did a
side by side and she said.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Levon, it's not there. I don't see anything.
Speaker 7 (11:35):
So I said, well, you know, the God I serve
can perform miracles, so I do see that. And so
she said, well should we? She said, I have to
allow you to make a decision about how you proceed.
And I said, well, what's your recommendation? She said, my
recommendations that we finished the rounds, and I.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Said, then I'm going with you.
Speaker 7 (11:59):
I felt like I was led to her and she
was there to guide me. So I'm not gonna challenge
and question and do all those things.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
My attitude throughout the.
Speaker 7 (12:10):
Process was I trust God and I trust the people
he's put in my past. But he said to me,
you should do natural treatment, not my thing. That's what
you want to do. I knew that wasn't for me
because I don't have that kind of discipline ray I need.
I'm the type of person that I want you to
(12:32):
hold my hand and tell me what to do. ABC
one two three. That was to me too much work.
I paid my husband, and I paid good medical insurance
for a long time, and you never used except for
the three babies that we had and maybe a couple
of incidents here and there.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So it was time to put that insurance to use.
And so it was good.
Speaker 7 (12:57):
And then chemo number five went well, and then all
hell broke loose. It was like my body was tired.
It was my blood pressure was low. I had no appetite.
Meat tasted like wood. Vegetables taste it like no.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Meat tasted like plastic for red.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
Weirdly enough, styrophoam and vegetables taste it like wood. And
so I had no appetite. I would eat whatever I,
you know, could tolerate. I lost a lot of weight
and they were very concerned, and so I was gonna
do a reconstruction surgery. But I saw the the plastic
(13:45):
surgeon and he said, if I were to do the
operation today, if you were to come to me today,
I would not do your surgery because you wouldn't make
it like I wouldn't make it. So so the original
plan was to do a double miss stacked tomy, so
it was not a genetic cancer. So I had that
ruled out as well. So that's important to know your
(14:07):
family history. And even if you don't know your family history,
you can get your genetic testing done once you get
to a certain age, check with your medical professional with
your health insurance, because that's good to know going in.
So I didn't have a family history of it, and
(14:29):
then they told me that I was not that I
did not carry the genes, and so they were concerned
about whether or not I can make it through the surgery.
So I said, well, I'm sticking with the double misstectomy
and if that's the best way, because I didn't want
to do radiation. I just wanted it to be over
(14:50):
with and I felt like the girls had served their purpose.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I was not a fan of them. I was well endowed.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
That's what That's something I do want to make sure
we hit on. Doctor Madeline is about body consciousness and
body confidence. And so when I went to the surgeon
the first time, and she said, typically with this type
of cancer, we would do a missectomy and maybe a
double mastectomy, depending on what your genetics and everything says.
(15:24):
She says, do you have a problem with that? I said,
you can have them. And so my husband said you
just you did not hesitate well. That summer summer twenty
twenty three, I had decided I was gonna if, I said,
if I get a job, it's gonna be so that
I can pay for a breast reduction. I always wanted one.
(15:49):
My mother talked me out of it. God created you
and his image and your body is fine the way
it is. And my husband's like, you don't need to
mess with those. They were good whatever I was tired of.
The gravity was starting to take effect, and I was
like enough. So when I saw Sherry Shepherd did hers,
(16:09):
I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go do mine.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The one thing I used to.
Speaker 7 (16:12):
Always say every time I went for my mammogram, every
time I cross my mind, I say, God, keep them healthy.
If you keep them healthy, I'm good, right, Just keep
them healthy well for whatever reason, then stay healthy. So
I got a reduction reduction with no reconstruction because it
(16:35):
was it's a. The process that's required during the initial
surgery prepares you for the reconstruction, and I just physically
wasn't able to endure. So I really didn't have an option.
So that led me to July last year. I gained
(16:56):
a few pounds, they were able to give my blood
pressure maintained through Madison, and I got round six and
then did the double mistectomy and I went to ER twice.
Once I stayed overnight. I was there at the hospital
three nights.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
That was the worst. That was just before that was
between chemo five and six and.
Speaker 7 (17:22):
So. But the funny thing about the whole experience was
when I went to get the surgery, I wasn't supposed
to stay overnight, but my surgeon said something about my
energy just wasn't good for her when she came in
to mark me up. And as a matter of fact,
(17:44):
when she was marking me up, all I could imagine,
and then when they were taking the pictures of me
throughout the process, all I could imagine was when Kim
Fields did her breast reduction and they had it as
part of the storyline on Living Single, and she was
doing all that, and so that kind of motive, you know,
kept me in a good headset too, and.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So she so she didn't tell me she was gonna
keep me.
Speaker 7 (18:11):
So I wake up from the anesthesia and they said, well,
miss Thomas, we're trying to get you a room.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And I was like a.
Speaker 7 (18:17):
Room and she said, yeah, your doctor. The doctor wanted
to make sure you were okay through the night. Everything
went well, your vitals are good.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
She just felt like you needed to be tended to.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
Okay, that's so sweet.
Speaker 7 (18:36):
So I stayed and so it took them a while
to make the connection that the room was for the
same day.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And so once they finally got me a room, I go.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Upstairs and my nurse and my attendant their names were
Glory and Joy, and they told me that they actually
stayed after their shift because they didn't want me to
be caught up in the new shift tasks and they
(19:06):
had done or everything they needed to do, so they
just took responsibility for me.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I said, I'll take Glory and Enjoy any day.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Is that something?
Speaker 7 (19:16):
So that's how the end became the beginning.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Wow, that is that's amazing. Just when you think about
what you just said. Even the names of the two attendants,
Glory and Joy, that those were just blessings surrounding.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
I mean I heard that as soon as you started
talking about it.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
That's what so.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Tell us this.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
You know, many women describe that moment as life changing
for them, Like you know, especially when you first find
out about it and you're going to have to go
through either you know, the chemo or the reconstructive surgery
or what have you. When did you first find that
spark of hope that helped you to shift from fear
(20:05):
to faith.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I don't know that.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
It was ever a shift, as much as they stayed interconnected.
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Okay, you know, I think.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
I feel like the fear part pushed me into the
faith that I needed. I mean, I've always been I
would say, you know, God didn't deliver me from any
kind of sinful lifestyles or anything like that. My journey
was always faith.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
God.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
I know you're gonna bring my family through God. I
know you're gonna help me get this tuition paid. God,
i know you're gonna give me this job. I'm actually
trying to put extra little dose of faith on now
because it's time for me to go back to work.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And so they were just interconnected. I mean I was with.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
My husband when when the radiologists called to give me
the diagnosis, and he was just exceptional. He's always been
very supportive of me, and so I felt like I
was not. I try not to live my life comparing
myself to other people, and as I said, every journey
is different.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
But I had to kind of.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Celebrate that I live in a three generational house. My
father is here with us, I have two young adult children,
and then my husband, and then I have a brother
and another son who lived close by.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So I'm not the typical person to go through something
like this.
Speaker 7 (21:44):
I had care for my family twenty four to seven,
so the only thing I had to do was have
a good attitude and follow doctors' orders and try to
eat and let people do. I mean, I did work.
I worked on a campaign for the from January or
(22:05):
February to May, so I would go out and do
campaign events.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So I'm grateful that I had the strength to do
those things.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
And they would drive me because the blood pressure thing
was kind of hit or minutes. For a minute, we
didn't know quite what it was, and so when I
didn't feel as strong, they would drive me. So I
never had to look outside of my home for support.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I had support.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
I had friends and my pastor and who you know
checked on me and called me and everything like that,
because I didn't broadcast if you know, I'm a Facebook person,
and I did not publicly let everybody know, oh yeah,
I'm going through breast cancer. If you saw me, you
knew something was happening. What I've learned is people are
(22:58):
very cowardly. You know, they'll look at you sideways and say,
oh girl, you look good, you lost some weight. How
do you talk about somebody's body. What gives you the
right to comment that I've lost weight. Well, you didn't
tell me when I was gaining weight, so what's the point.
And so for me, it was a thing of staying
(23:23):
in a space.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Of gratitude.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
Because you know, financially it was an extra bill in
my household, and once my campaign checked, couldn't even get
unemployment to call me back to get my money set up,
which probably worked out because I physically wasn't able to
do the computer to look for a job, and I
(23:46):
don't want them coming from me for some money. So yeah,
it was just a thing of staying in the right
mind frame and having hope and knowing that my body
is my body and it belongs to God and whatever
God has for me. But I think that other people
may struggle because they have other issues, they got to
(24:11):
go to work, they don't have anybody that's.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Readily available to support them.
Speaker 7 (24:17):
So my journey is very unique, and I don't take
it for granted.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I believe what I told God was, if I can.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
Run around Prince George's County, Maryland for all of these
years advocating.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
For this and that and campaigning for.
Speaker 7 (24:36):
Everybody that I've worked with, you give me healing, you
bring me through this.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
I will make sure.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
To put my modest mindset away because as bold as
I am with the things that you know about me,
doctor Madlin, I'm not that person who get out here
and talk about bread care.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I'm a very private.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Person when it comes to the physical things of life.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I'll tell you, yeah, you should go to the doctor.
Speaker 7 (25:09):
I didn't get my first mammogram at forty I need
get it at forty five.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I think I was fifty fifty fifty plus.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
My mother kept saying, you know, you need to go
get your mammogram, and I was like, yeah, okay, I'm
gonna get it. Im gonna get up and get it,
because my attitude was whatever was on the other side
of that, I need to raise my kids. So once
my kids get out of high school, I'll take care
of me. I'll do better about doctor's appointments and things
like that.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
So it was an agreement I had with God. So
he really made sure that I kept up my end
of the bargain and I did.
Speaker 7 (25:46):
I from twenty eighteen until when it was at twenty
twenty three, I had my mammogram every.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Year, and so that's just the first start is get
the it's better to know than to walk aroun Yeah,
question mark.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
And that's where you know, that's part of the healing process.
Now you know I'm they say in remission, I say
I'm cancer free because I'm not claiming nothing to come back.
And so but you know, every now and then you
get that little question mark.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Hovering around you, and you know, I'm off of the
blood pressure pills. So I'm good.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
My appetite is definitely back. I've gained a little bit
of weight. My biggest challenge is I can't get my
hair to come back in.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
The way it was. But you know what vanity is
not of God?
Speaker 7 (26:44):
Yeah, it's not of God, So fear is a very
real thing. But I do believe that fear is fed
by other circumstances.
Speaker 6 (26:56):
Yes, yes, Well let me ask you this.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
And I know you talked about the support, your support system,
you know, your family, your church, different things like that.
And often we know that women feel pressured to stay
strong even when they're hurting. How did you allow yourself
to be vulnerable to receive support from those around you?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah? You know.
Speaker 7 (27:25):
I have a couple of nick names among my circle
my family.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Fuss and boss and Sarge.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
And at one point I was the clean up woman.
I was to make it happen person. And so I
have to say that I felt a little why me
for a minute, right, And people always go, well, why
(27:58):
not you? God doesn't give you more than you can bear,
and God's gonna use this for his glory, And.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Honestly, I was just like God, I don't know how
much more glory you want from me.
Speaker 7 (28:13):
So my challenge was probably more emotional, and I felt
like something was being taken away from me. I really
didn't mind the cancer part. My thing was just the
timing was bad. Here I am out here trying to
get back to work. Life just was life and for
(28:37):
the past. But from twenty nineteen forward, you know, coming
through COVID and then family challenges related to COVID, and
just life was just being disrupted. And I just felt like, ooh,
I'm right here, I'm about to jump out. Twenty twenty
four is.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Gonna be my year. So what kept me grounded was
my faith, but just the just.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
The will that I want to live like I just
want to get to the other side of this. Every day,
every appointment, I sat myself down. I started watching muck
bang videos, the videos of people eating food, and it
really stimulated my appetite.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And I'm a visual person. I'm a visual learner.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
And when I was talking to my nutritionist, I was
describing how food tasted, and I told her about the
videos and how they were giving me ideas of what
to eat, like stimulating different taste buds in my mind.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And I've never.
Speaker 7 (29:52):
Experienced anything having to do with.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
An a rexio or baliem me or anything like that.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
But I had a new understanding of why they labeled
those things as psychological conditions, because you need all of
your senses, or you can use all of your senses
for eating, and of course people eat out of emotional
need too right. And so once I started separating at
(30:25):
the different elements of eating, it allowed me to eat,
and then that brought me through. That was probably my
greatest hurdle was trying to eat. I had plenty of
people to get me food, cook me food, but just
not wanting to.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Eat, and even drinking water. It felt like water was
getting stuck going down, and so you know it was
it was. It was just being an encourager to myself,
as you know. So I went through another health issue.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
In twenty eighteen, and I pulled on my poetry and
I started pulling together in anthology and I wrote some
anecdotes and it's encouraged my soul. And so I was already,
I believe, prepared for this space and time. So I
didn't have to I didn't have to figure out how
(31:24):
to be right. God opened me up to painting in
twenty nineteen. I hated not being able to paint, so
I did as much as I could until the neuropathy
just prevented me from doing things.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I kept a journal. I have a journal my whole journey.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
I wrote in it every day or almost every day,
and when my fingers wouldn't let me, you know, I
could keep things into my phone sometimes, So though this
was an encouraged of course, scripture encourages.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
You found a lot of.
Speaker 7 (32:03):
People on YouTube who do ministry that I would have
never known, or Instagram and just every now and then
you just plug in and look for that message to
encourage you.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Right.
Speaker 6 (32:14):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
So when you look back on your experience, what were
what were What do you feel were some of the
unexpected lessons or blessings that came from your journey with cancer?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Who the unexpected? I would say that I'm not a
patient person. I love a good.
Speaker 6 (32:53):
Debate mm hm mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
But I have learned that's not my fight. I have
learned to.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
I won't say let go of things because I'm just
a very emotional sensitive person.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
But I've learned to.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
Kind of park some things that may frustrate me or
some people who may have hurt me or bothered me,
and I've allowed God to.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Let me know when I needed to re connect with
those people.
Speaker 7 (33:31):
And there's still some folk out there that I have
not reconnected with.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
The greatest I would say probably blessing.
Speaker 7 (33:42):
And this, of course doesn't apply to everybody, because everybody
doesn't live in the house like I do.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I got to see my young adult children thrive.
Speaker 7 (33:51):
I got to see what we have instilled in them
set by example.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
As I said, my father lives here.
Speaker 7 (33:59):
My mom was here with us for two years during
her cancer journey.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
She passed away in February twenty sixteen.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
So my children have seen what it takes to support
My mother wasn't physically relying upon us for her day
to day needs.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
But you know, she wasn't. She didn't have to tend
to the house.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
All day long when as she did when she lived
where she did.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
You know, we we I.
Speaker 7 (34:25):
Would have to fix food for her sometimes and then
other times.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
She fixed food for us. So I got to see.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
My children really transitioned into adulthood and making decisions because
I wasn't gonna I wasn't keeping track of anybody but me,
and so it was if you're leaving the house, let
us know, but tom are you coming back. They took
care of the house with my husband. They you know,
(34:55):
grocery shop, They cooked. My daughter has just become this
fancy tasty cook which I don't cook.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
Remember her roomcake I do remember.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Now, And so that's probably the greatest blessing of it
all to have the opportunity to watch I saw Crystal
evans Hurst did a podcast about the role you begin
to play with your adult too. I think it was Crystal,
(35:27):
and she was talking about you become a coach, become
their coach, and.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
So that this is that last year I became their coach.
Coach so much so the.
Speaker 7 (35:37):
One dad had to tell my daughter, I said, you
don't even care about when mommy eats or anything. She says, Mommy,
you are fine. There's a difference between caring for you
and coddling you. Wow. So I said, oh, I guess
I'm recovered. Tom's going to get back to doing some things.
Speaker 6 (35:56):
No, that's right, I know that's right. Yeah, So tell
me this if if.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
If there are always there are always moments when hope
feels different. So what kept you moving forward though? On
those days that felt the hardest because I know you
had probably had a couple of those.
Speaker 7 (36:23):
Yeah, that one month in June, because it was it
was getting close to the wire on whether or not
I would be able to have the surgery because you
have to do your chemo and then you only have
a thirty day window after your last chemo to get
(36:43):
your surgery, and like I said, I wasn't scheduled to
do radiation. So my girlfriends and I'm glad you asked
the question because I wanted to mention that one of
the one of the statistics is that one in eight
women will have a breast cancer diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
I have a circle of friends.
Speaker 7 (37:04):
We were all turning sixty last year, so I called
them my sixty.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Sists. I can't remember exactly, but anyway, it was sixty.
Speaker 7 (37:13):
In a circle, and there are eight of us in
this in this little group, and I was the person wow.
And when I got my when I was suspicious of
the diagnosis, that was in November I think it was
it was November. No, it was January. I hadn't gotten
(37:36):
a diagnosis yet. And we all got together to celebrate birthdays.
And I'm looking around the table and I'm like, it's
eight of us, and I'm the one wow. And so
I felt like, if if this was my journey, out
of the eight of us, then I had to do
it the best to the best of my ability. And
(37:59):
so because we were all turning in sixty, we were
sitting at the table and I said, so, what's everybody.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Doing for their birthday.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
We all start talking because I'm the person that's always like,
we got to celebrate your birthdays. So everybody said what
they wanted to do, and I said, well, I want
to go to Disney World.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
I want to do adult Disney. They were like, so
a couple of my friends are.
Speaker 7 (38:20):
Big Disney people. They go with or without their kids
who are grown. They go with their own kids. And
so I said, yeah, so my birthday is November. I'm
I'm next to the last person in the circle's birthday.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
So we all planned to go to Disney.
Speaker 7 (38:34):
And so, like in the Super Bowl at the end,
the winning quarterback he says, they said, where are you going?
Speaker 2 (38:41):
He said, I'm going to Disney World. That was my goal.
Speaker 7 (38:46):
My goal was to get to Disney with my girlfriends
and nothing was going to stop me from living that
out because I'm not really a goal setting kind of person,
and so I wanted So when they were trying to
figure out some other alternatives to me doing the double mistectomy,
(39:07):
she said, my doctor said, well, if you do the
partial and then we do the reduction, you'll have to
do radiation and that's like ninety days. And I was like, oh, no,
ninety days I'll be celebrating my birthday in Florida.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Kept me, you know, of course, gave you the whole
extra thing.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So you have to build in incentives for yourself.
Speaker 7 (39:28):
You know, I would try myself to a smoothie. So
it can be different things. It may be going to
the beach in sitting out watching the water. I love
North Beach down in Calvert County.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
So well, tell me question if you had to give.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
Some words of it.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
You know, if you could speak directly to another woman
who had just receive a diagnosis, say today, could you
briefly tell us what words of comfort or encouragement would
you want her to hear. And because we're coming up
to almost the close right now, so let us tell
us briefly what you would tell that person if they
(40:18):
got a diagnosis today.
Speaker 7 (40:21):
I would say, if you made it through what you
believe is your worst situation, then you have what it
takes to get through this one.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
You got to be positive.
Speaker 7 (40:36):
If God brought you through something before, he can do
it again. If you're not a person of faith, you
believe that you've endured some difficult times and you went
through you pulled through it.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Pull yourself through it again.
Speaker 7 (40:53):
Absolutely trust yourself, trust yourself, always trust yourself.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Wow. Well, thank you. I want to thank you, thank you,
thank you for sharing your heart and your story so
openly with us today. You've reminded us that healing isn't
just about surviving. It's about discovering the strength and the
beauty within ourselves along the way. And I believe that's
(41:21):
what you did. So I want to thank you for
joining me today, not for show. So it's been. It's
been a pleasure. It really has.
Speaker 7 (41:32):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
And I tell you what, as I talk to the
audience now, as we close out, I just want to
say again, just wow, because what a truly moving I
think an empowering conversation this has been. You know, LaVerne's
story reminds us that even in life's most challenging seasons,
(41:55):
there is always hope healing. And you know, but healing
takes time, it takes faith, it takes courage, but it
is possible, and sometimes your healing journey becomes someone else's inspiration.
So that's why we're so happy to have her share today.
I want to thank you again, Levon Reedy Thomas for
(42:16):
being with us today and for showing us that success
isn't just about reaching goals, it's about rising strong after
the storm. Thank you so for all of you out there.
If this episode touched your heart, please share it with.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
A woman who needs encouragement.
Speaker 5 (42:35):
You can watch the replay on YouTube or listen on
Talk for TV, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, all the requisite
places that you can listen to if you just want
to listen only, But if you want to watch it
on YouTube are the Women for Women network you can
(42:56):
do that. I want to again thank Levon read Thomas
for being here with us today. This has been the
success for Women's show. Of course we are here every week.
I am your host, doctor Madelanann Lewis helping women to
accelerate the path to success. If you'd like to reach
(43:16):
out to me, you can reach me at info at
EXWSI dot com or you can go to my website
www dot EXWSI dot com. Again, I want to thank
Levonredy Thomas for sharing her story with us again, something
(43:39):
I hope inspired and encourage those of you out there
listening that may have gone through or is going through
the same thing. Thank you again to my viewers and
listeners for joining me, and you all know I love
you all to life and as always, be well and
(44:02):
stay safe out there.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
This is success.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Successful windomen had such that was women there rise about
who is sad? Tread some of them successful women
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.