We recently connected with Barbara Turknett Edwards and have shared our conversation below.

Barbara , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

Well I have too many to list here so I’ll just give three short ones.

●One of my closest memories has to be during radiation treatments which were 33 treatments, 5 days a week, I met a lady from India also receiving treatment. The treatments had caused her to start losing her memory, down to things as basic as math. We always embraced and she’d invite me to India, I’d continue seeing her off and on up until the end of her treatments, her last treatment was a giant celebration, and she was so excited. We’ll call her Mrs. T. A few months after her treatments completed I called her and left a voicemail, she called me back later that day and we caught back up with an hours long conversation about everything I had missed in the passing months. It truly made my entire week, but later on that day her husband called me. He was responding to my voice-mail and said that he regretted to tell me that Mrs. T. had lost ALL her memory and wouldn’t be able to remember me or really communicate well. Needless to say, he was stunned when he found out that she had indeed called me back and conversed with me so coherently for so long that same day. I didn’t know it at the time but that would be my last time talking to Mrs. T. because A few months later, her husband called me to let me know of her passing and tell me how much I meant to her…

●Another example is when i was contacted by a single mother I had already assisted with getting insurance while on my “Mission of Hope 50 State Tour”; she was living with a family member and that same insurance had services that I wasn’t even aware of, which included rent vouchers for a brand new 2 bedroom apt, furniture, as well as other essential needs.

●A third and final story also comes from my Mission of Hope Tour:
I was on the train in Maine with my pink boxing gloves and a young lady asked me about them. After explaining to her what I do she proceeded to tell me that she had just been diagnosed with skin cancer but had a severe fear of hospitals and had never met a person who received chemo and lived. Well she was now sitting across from a 60+ year old survivor who moves around like a 30 year old. I had two surgeries, and worked out all through my treatment, she jumped up for joy and exclaimed “now I want to live!”

Barbara , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

While I was going through treatment for triple negative breast cancer, I couldn’t help but notice the abundance of people in need of help with seemingly no resources. Other cancer patients found me easy to talk to as well as their caregivers/family members who’d also often confide in and talk to me, whether it be words of encouragement or actual advocacy and services, I’d always step up to the plate. Dr’s and nurses would often tell me they wished they had more patients like me due to my hopeful and jovial personality while undergoing treatment. They further explained that many other patients would take advice from me moreso than a Dr. for the sheer fact that I’ve went through it also. The need was clear as day, and my motivation just as glaring.

There were so many resources available to me that many people didn’t know about or simply didn’t know they had access to; this included things such as, art therapy, meditation, yoga, music therapy, physical therapy, pilates, healthy cooking classes, and much more. All of these things are critical for pre, during, and post treatment, but largely goes unknown by most patients, again…the need was clear as day.

All in all, awareness and an openness to actually spread the resources is what is drastically needed within the cancer “thrivers” community. We’ve helped survivors obtain rent vouchers so that they wouldn’t have to worry about working as much during their treatments, but most people don’t think programs and resources like this even exist, yet they do and are not largely advertised in low income communities. In these communities, many people don’t even realize that they can qualify for certain insurances, transportation, and groceries to help during this time of need, RMT Cancer Network inc assists with that also.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Well before I started the non profit I was assisting and advocating with people even while going through chemo myself. During treatment they found out that I was allergic to the chemo but due to the type of cancer I had, there were no other options so I had to just deal with it. Burns, blisters, rashes, my scalp was peeling, internal itching, couldn’t sleep, among other things but through it all I would work out everyday, take my healthy cooking classes and meditations. Not only was I being poisoned but I was also allergic and it got so bad they had to stop the chemo early at 11 treatments, so when it affected my eye sight i still didn’t stop my advocacy, I took public transportation instead of driving. If someone needed help, instead of internet research, I’d make more phone calls because of my sight. Everything RMT does is with a personal touch.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was living in Florida and I came to Texas to be a keynote speaker. Decided to stay for a few months and while doing my checkups I discovered the cancer. I never went back to FL to live so it was a complete 180° turn from what i was expecting. Also when the chemo treatments affected my eyes and short term memory I had to pivot, there are a lot of side effects from chemo. By going through those things, I am better able to assist others as a helping hand who has actually experienced these things.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.RMTCancerNetwork.org
• Instagram: RMTCancerNetworkInc
• Facebook: Rose M. Turknett Cancer Network Inc