Embracing Life After Cancer
- Celebrity chef and best-selling author Sandra Lee, 56, is reportedly in the midst of wedding planning with her fiancé, Ben Youcef, 44.
- It’s great to see the cancer survivor so full of love and light after her harrowing health battles not too long ago.
- She previously underwent a double mastectomy (removal of both breasts) in 2015 to treat breast cancer, followed by a preventative hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) in 2022.
- Life on the other side of a cancer battle can bring a whole new host of anxieties, and it’s important to know your feelings after cancer treatment are valid.
- That being said, many survivors find ways to thrive after processing the emotional toll of their diseases.
- One survivor said cancer “gives you more perspective on yourself and on the life that you want.”
Lee, the ex-girlfriend of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2015. A successful double mastectomy the removal of all breast tissue led to a remission she’s still enjoying today.
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“Hopefully this will encourage anyone who needs to get a concerning procedure done to take the opportunity now so you can live as happy and healthy as possible,” she wrote around the time of her surgery in March 2022. “We must all live our best lives every day and in every way.”
Thankfully, Lee is well past her active and preventative cancer treatments and living life to the fullest. Her Instagram is full of love and light with plenty of smiling snaps featuring her fiancé, Ben Youcef, 44.
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Lee and Youcef began dating in 2021 after reportedly meeting at a restaurant in Santa Monica, California, and the couple got engaged in August of the same year.
It’s unclear when Lee and Youcef will officially tie the knot, but a source recently told Page Six the two are "definitely in the midst of planning their wedding" and "looking at places in New York and the Hamptons."
“They're soulmates and head over heels in love,” another source said after their engagement.
Thriving After Cancer Like Sandra Lee
Life on the other side of a cancer battle can bring a whole new host of anxieties. And you might even need further treatment like in the case of Sandra Lee to reduce your risk of developing cancer again.
It’s important to know, however, that your feelings after cancer treatment are valid, and many other survivors struggle after overcoming the disease.
"In life after cancer, I experienced an entirely new level of anxiety that I didn't know existed," Hodgkin lymphoma survivor CC Webster told SurvivorNet.
"Earth-shattering anxiety that makes you sweat, and makes your heart race."
After learning how "to process the trauma that [she] had just been through," Webster was able to get back to living life on her own terms.
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"The thing that helped me the most in managing myself is to allow yourself to process the worry," she said.
"If you're brave enough to look fear, or worry, or anxiety in the face, it goes away.
"The whole process of being sick, especially at a young age, gives you more perspective on yourself and on the life that you want, because we've gotten the second chance. And if you can be bad ass enough to follow that fire, it is an amazing thing. It will take you places where you didn't even know existed."
Webster and Lee, like so many cancer survivors, learned how to process the emotional toll of their diseases and move forward with strength. And survivors like Marecya Burton even find new passions after their battles.
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Following her ovarian cancer diagnosis at just 20 years old, Burton realized she would no longer be able to pursue a law degree right after graduation.
"I really had to, in a sense, put my life on hold," she told SurvivorNet. "Sometimes I look at where I am, and I can't help but wonder, would I be further had I not had my diagnosis?"
But instead of going to law school, Burton found a love for education. She became a high school teacher in Baltimore, Maryland, and she's since embraced her new direction in life.
"I wouldn't change my career for the world," she said. "It's so fulfilling."
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