A Journey of Healing & Hope

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0:56 Well. Hello, Hello, Hello, everyone, and welcome to another inspiring episode of the Success for Women radio and TV show. 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, 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.

1:51 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 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.

2:35 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. 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 about levont. Oh. Thank you so much, Doctor Madeleine. I you know, I love you, I respect you, I applaud you. You are a. 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, teach women, engage women. And women is the spectrum, you know, from the younger women college age all the way up.

3:47 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. But I'm grateful to be at this stage in my life because it could have been a different conversation. A year ago. Wow. And so I am a creative I do writing poetry. I've been a professional journalist. I paint. That's my work right here behind me. A couple of my pieces, which is a new gift that I discovered in twenty nineteen after going through another difficult season.

4:30 I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a daughter. I love Jesus. 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. 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 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.

5:29 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. So that was a flag for me. 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, 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.

6:18 A customer service call. 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. I kind of knew, okay, that's what this was. And I didn't say anything when I went. I didn't say anything to the tech because I've learned from previous experiences that you don't discuss anything with the text.

6:59 They're just there and they should not discuss anything with you either. That was my experience with a dental tech. And so I. 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. Have in the area. 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. So I went in. 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 on my right breast that were suspect, they brought me back in January because I needed.

8:03 Like four or five hours to go through the process. 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 upper area where I had felt the swelling, was a one. They wanted to get me in to see a surgeon. 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 calls are different, so it's not really important.

9:02 What's important is the stages. And so. 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 wonderful experience, no complaints. But she said to me, if this were twenty years ago, your survivorate would be five percent. I was like, did I really need. To know that no one knew.

9:43 Yeah, So I'm sitting there with my husband and I'm crying. You know, I'm crying. So that was my reaction. I was good through everything else until she said that one, because it was a place of gratitude to. Know that so many women have. 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, 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, they have you to go back to your surgeon, and so my surgeon had a resident working with her, and the resident.

10:55 Pulls up the. 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. So the searcher said, what do you mean. 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. Levon, it's not there. I don't see anything.

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. Said, then I'm going with you. 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. My attitude throughout the. 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.

12:29 I'm the type of person that I want you to 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. So it was time to put that insurance to use. And so it was good. 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.

13:14 Meat tasted like wood. Vegetables taste it like no. Meat tasted like plastic for red. 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 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 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.

14:24 So I didn't have a family history of it, and 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 with and I felt like the girls had served their purpose. I was not a fan of them. I was well endowed. 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. 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, I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go do mine.

16:11 The one thing I used to. 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 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 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.

17:08 Once I stayed overnight. I was there at the hospital three nights. That was the worst. That was just before that was between chemo five and six and. 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, 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.

18:08 So she so she didn't tell me she was gonna keep me. So I wake up from the anesthesia and they said, well, miss Thomas, we're trying to get you a room. And I was like a. 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. She just felt like you needed to be tended to. Okay, that's so sweet. So I stayed and so it took them a while to make the connection that the room was for the same day. And so once they finally got me a room, I go. 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 had done or everything they needed to do, so they just took responsibility for me.

19:12 I said, I'll take Glory and Enjoy any day. Is that something? So that's how the end became the beginning. 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. Wow. I mean I heard that as soon as you started talking about it. That's what so. Tell us this. 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 to faith.

20:08 I don't know that. It was ever a shift, as much as they stayed interconnected. Okay, you know, I think. 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. God. 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.

20:53 And so they were just interconnected. I mean I was with. 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. But I had to kind of. 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.

21:38 So I'm not the typical person to go through something like this. 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 February to May, so I would go out and do campaign events. So I'm grateful that I had the strength to do those things. 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.

22:36 I had support. 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 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.

23:18 And so for me, it was a thing of staying in a space. Of gratitude. 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 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 go to work, they don't have anybody that's.

24:14 Readily available to support them. So my journey is very unique, and I don't take it for granted. I believe what I told God was, if I can. Run around Prince George's County, Maryland for all of these years advocating. For this and that and campaigning for. Everybody that I've worked with, you give me healing, you bring me through this. I will make sure. 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.

25:02 I'm a very private. Person when it comes to the physical things of life. I'll tell you, yeah, you should go to the doctor. I didn't get my first mammogram at forty I need get it at forty five. I think I was fifty fifty fifty plus. 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. 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.

25:46 I from twenty eighteen until when it was at twenty twenty three, I had my mammogram every. Year, and so that's just the first start is get the it's better to know than to walk aroun Yeah, question mark. 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. Hovering around you, and you know, I'm off of the blood pressure pills. So I'm good.

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. The way it was. But you know what vanity is not of God? Yeah, it's not of God, So fear is a very real thing. But I do believe that fear is fed by other circumstances. Yes, yes, Well let me ask you this. 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?

27:24 Yeah? You know. I have a couple of nick names among my circle my family. Fuss and boss and Sarge. 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 not you? God doesn't give you more than you can bear, and God's gonna use this for his glory, And.

28:06 Honestly, I was just like God, I don't know how much more glory you want from me. 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 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.

28:57 Gonna be my year. So what kept me grounded was my faith, but just the just. 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. And I'm a visual person. I'm a visual learner. 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.

29:50 And I've never. Experienced anything having to do with. An a rexio or baliem me or anything like that. 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 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.

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. 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 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.

31:37 I kept a journal. I have a journal my whole journey. 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. You found a lot of. 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. Right. Wow. 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?

32:34 Who the unexpected? I would say that I'm not a patient person. I love a good. Debate mm hm mm hmm. But I have learned that's not my fight. I have learned to. I won't say let go of things because I'm just a very emotional sensitive person. But I've learned to. 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.

33:26 Let me know when I needed to re connect with those people. And there's still some folk out there that I have not reconnected with. The greatest I would say probably blessing. And this, of course doesn't apply to everybody, because everybody doesn't live in the house like I do. I got to see my young adult children thrive. I got to see what we have instilled in them set by example. As I said, my father lives here. My mom was here with us for two years during her cancer journey. She passed away in February twenty sixteen.

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. But you know, she wasn't. She didn't have to tend to the house. All day long when as she did when she lived where she did. You know, we we I. Would have to fix food for her sometimes and then other times. She fixed food for us. So I got to see. 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, grocery shop, They cooked. My daughter has just become this fancy tasty cook which I don't cook.

35:03 Remember her roomcake I do remember. 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, and she was talking about you become a coach, become their coach, and. So that this is that last year I became their coach. Coach so much so the. 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.

35:56 No, that's right, I know that's right. Yeah, So tell me this if if. 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. 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 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.

37:02 I have a circle of friends. We were all turning sixty last year, so I called them my sixty. Sists. I can't remember exactly, but anyway, it was sixty. 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 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 so because we were all turning in sixty, we were sitting at the table and I said, so, what's everybody.

38:04 Doing for their birthday. 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. I want to do adult Disney. They were like, so a couple of my friends are. 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. So we all planned to go to Disney. And so, like in the Super Bowl at the end, the winning quarterback he says, they said, where are you going? He said, I'm going to Disney World. That was my goal.

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, 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. Kept me, you know, of course, gave you the whole extra thing. So you have to build in incentives for yourself.

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. So well, tell me question if you had to give. Some words of it. 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 got a diagnosis today.

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. You got to be positive. 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. Pull yourself through it again. Absolutely trust yourself, trust yourself, always trust yourself. 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 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.

41:32 Wow. 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, 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.

42:12 I want to thank you again, Levon Reedy Thomas for 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. A woman who needs encouragement. 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 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.

43:09 I am your host, doctor Madelanann Lewis helping women to accelerate the path to success. If you'd like to reach 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 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 stay safe out there.

44:04 This is success. Successful windomen had such that was women there rise about who is sad? Tread some of them successful women