Pasha Chaney is an author and cancer advocate, bringing cancer awareness to the Black and Brown communities after her own personal experience with cancer in 2020. Her latest book “Living in Remission: A Survivor’s Story” released in September of 2021 is a follow up to her inspirational, self-help 2020 book, “Through the Scars: Rising from Cancer”. She has been featured in media outlets such as My City Magazine, www.mycitymag.com (Summer 2021, Wellness Edition), “Cancer Actually Sucks” podcast on Spotify including “The Tyra Hill Show” and more.
“As a newly diagnosed, single mother in my 30’s cancer was extremely unexpected and scary. What started out being allergy like symptoms (water eyes and runny nose) turned into a massive tumor throughout my nasal cavity, left eye socket all the way to the top of my skull area, just below my brain. Squamous Cell Carcinoma was the cause, a type of skin cancer located in the middle and outer layers of the skin”, Pasha recounts.
In March of 2020, Pasha underwent her first massive 22 hour surgery with a team of 5 surgeons to remove her tumor which resulted in the loss of her left eye, a surgical flap placed between the brain and skull, permanent loss of taste and smell as well as a huge, deep, 10 inch scar on her left leg to remove a vein that is now utilized on the left side of her face to provide blood flow where her enucleation occurred. Pasha recalls those times and states, “My initial surgery was hard as I had to come to terms with losing physical parts of myself and appearance due to cancer as well dealing with Covid-19 restrictions and protocols which didn’t allow my friends and family to be with me during chemotherapy and radiation sessions. Those were some dark and lonely times but I was determined to not let cancer destroy me emotionally”. Pasha would undergo 2 more surgeries and countless amounts of physical therapy and rehabilitation over the course of a year while writing her books during treatment and post surgery.
“People think because you didn’t succumb to cancer and die that a survivor’s life goes right back to normal and they must be fine, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. My book “Living in Remission: A Survivor’s Story” helps family and friends understand that cancer remission is a very complex process and takes years of recovery. Each year 80,000 young adults between the age of 20-39 are diagnosed with cancer, resulting in 9,000 deaths a year and is the 4th leading cause of death behind accidents, suicide and homicide. My goal is to simply advocate, inform and educate young people on receiving the proper screenings (regardless of age), knowing their family’s medical history and not ignoring the signs including the symptoms of cancer. Not ignoring the signs saved my life and I pray my book helps save more lives”.
~Pasha~
Leave A Comment