What I've Learnt - Ilana Maizels

Ilana says “My birthday was coming up and I never celebrate my birthday normally, but for my 50th I said, ‘This is one I want to spend with my friends and family’. We started thinking about a nice gathering as well as an overseas trip. We had so many plans, I don’t even remember them now. Then cancer came and changed things.At the time I was going through menopause and there were a lot of changes happening to my body. My period was getting lighter and lighter, but it hadn’t stopped completely. I sometimes felt bloated and I’d lose my appetite; I’d forget to have lunch. Those kinds of things. But I started to realise that I had some few symptoms, like unusual bleeding, that I thought maybe I should actually check with my gynaecologist.   Now in remission Ilana is speaking as one if the honoured Witchery White Shirt campaign ambassadors to campaign to raise awareness and funding for the ongoing development of an early detection test - I spoke with head scientist Dr Maree Blaszic last year on this pod!Ilana discussed her very personal journey towards recovery and healing .I think one of the most important things when you go through something like this is to not disconnect yourself from your community, your family or your workplace. It's very important to your wellbeing. The one thing I didn't want was to be an outcast or labelled with ‘Oh, she's got cancer, she's sick’. Because as soon as people think like that, they talk to you differently. So, I said, ‘No, I'm not going anywhere. I didn't give up on my life. So, don't give up on me!’ That was my attitude the whole way through it.  I don’t usually talk about these experiences, it’s not something I tell everyone. I think, yes, I had cancer and it consumed my life for a little while, but in the end, I’m not defined by my cancer. It was just something that happened to me.Welcome to the WhatIveLearntPodcast podcast We Ilana you have been on quite a journey tell us about your story and what you’ve learnt about yourself along the way You said “I had cancer and it consumed my life for a little while, but in the end, I’m not defined by my cancer. It was just something that happened to me.”Deborah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/what.ive.learnt/Mind, Film and Publishing: https://www.mindfilmandpublishing.com/Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/what-ive-learnt/id153556330Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TQjCspxcrSi4yw2YugxBkBuzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1365850