Episode 6: Samantha Harris – Cancer Conversations & Your Healthiest Healthy

This week’s guest on “Happiness through Hardship” – The Podcast has so many incredible achievements it’s hard to know where to start. Samantha Harris is a former co-host of Dancing with the Stars, a two-time Emmy nominated entertainment correspondent and anchor for Entertainment Tonight as well as a guest host on The View, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Good Morning America. She’s hosted red carpet shows and starred on Broadway (as Roxy Hart in Chicago) as well as served as an ambassador for both Susan G. Komen, The American Cancer Society and Feeding America. She’s always been a fitness fanatic but after her breast cancer diagnosis, she further educated herself on healthy lifestyle modalities. Now she’s a certified trainer, health coach and author of the award winning book, Your Healthiest Healthy – 8 Easy Ways to Take Control, Help Prevent Cancer, and Live a Longer, Cleaner, Happier Life. Samantha will WOW you with her enthusiasm for life and expertise in healthy living. She shares with us how her cancer journey helped her find mindfulness and dig deeper into her positivity. She talked about how connecting with family and friends far away as well as within the cancer community helped her get through the rough times. And she shares a whole slew of her favorite health tips…and trust me – there are many.

Be sure to listen to the end when we play the Grateful Game. See – Samantha and I grew up together… so we had a few laughs talking about our old stomping grounds including walking around the mall to see Nate Berkus as well as eating fro-yo at the gym.

A Virtual Wellness Book Club – A Bookish Club

Are you in a book club now? Do you read the book and analyze with friends or show up just ready to have fun and possibly learn something? I’ve been in a number of book clubs throughout the years with different directions.

A Culture Club – No Boy George, just a bunch of fun neighbors sharing our interests together and having fun!

A Wine Club with a Book – Need I say more? Not many conversations about the book, yet still a blast.

Reading Night Out Club – Book reading mandatory. Questions outlined beforehand. Always left informed.

All of the above can be fun and inspirational. Just like picking friends, we have to pick the right book club that fits our wants/needs. I’ve always been more of non-fiction reader and for some reason always wanted a non-fiction book club. So here I am – inviting YOU to join this virtual wellness book club – a BOOK-ish Club.

50 Thoughtful Gift Ideas & Gestures for a Friend in Need

You get the phone call or email that a friend has just been diagnosed with [insert crappy diagnosis here] and you don’t know what to do. Do you call? If you call, what do you say? You opt not to call because:

1. You aren’t sure you should know.
2. You don’t know what you would say because you haven’t been in their shoes.
3. Or your friend must be swamped and you don’t want to bother her.

So, how then do you help a sick friend?

October: I Just Want to Cry – A Cancer Survivor’s View

As a breast cancer survivor, I’m not sure whether I love October or fear it. Seeing the spectrum of pink colors everywhere can be overwhelming. It’s a constant reminder that I’m sick. And yes, I know that thousands of women and men are afflicted with this disease yearly, so the pink promotion isn’t about me being ill. But sometimes, I just get inside my head. My thoughts go to the scary places that we all want to push away. And sometimes, I just want to cry.

Places to Donate to Honor Someone Battling Cancer

I’m not sure when to celebrate my cancer-aversery.

Is it the day we found the first lump (12/18/2004?)

Is it the day of my first official diagnosis (12/29/04?)

Now, that I’ve had a reoccurrence, should I commemorate the day when scan reports outlined the probability of metastatic disease (8/29/13?) Or, should it be the night of Friday the 13th (9/13/13) when my oncologist’s voice quietly gave me the official word – “It IS cancer.”

Throughout this cancer journey, I’ve stumbled upon amazing organizations that have helped my family and others navigate through this experience. So today, in honor of “International Day of Charity,” I’ve listed some of my favorite cancer charities and how you can donate. Their missions serve people in different ways. Some focus on research to find a cure, while others promote early detection to prevent it altogether. 

How a Disney Princess Helped Me Discover My New Normal

I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in the Fall of 2013. The news was shocking and sobering, especially considering I knew very few people who thrived with it. Scared beyond comprehension, filled with sleepless nights and worries dancing through my head, I thought I knew what that diagnosis meant. At the same time, publicity ramped up for Disney’s “Frozen,” but I didn’t pay attention. The movie opened Thanksgiving weekend and after the holidays, the world knew it was not only a box office hit, but the key to a young girl’s heart. I didn’t realize, it would be to mine, as well.

As the world was singing “Do you Want to Build a Snowman, ” I was anxiously awaiting my first set of scans after being diagnosed. My mind was filled with wildly ranging thoughts:

Was this the calm before the storm? Would the results show tremendous growth and I would only have a few months or years left?

If so, would my child really know me? Should we tell him or not?

Will my new treatments debilitate me? Will I feel like myself? Will I be myself?