Some bloating. The next day she was sent to an ultrasound which discovered a five inch mass completely burying her ovaries that had grown in only five months. A week later in the operating room removing it, the surgeon quickly knew it was ovarian cancer. “Life would never be the same. And it wasn’t. It isn’t.” Three weeks after the surgery, Heather started a 15 month chemotherapy clinical trial. “It was ironic because I swore after managing clinical trials for years and years that I would never be on one! And there I was signing up with a 42 page protocol with all these horrific things that could happen to me. So I signed away.” Those next 15 months were full of horrendous suffering. Heather lost her hair, the ability to walk, and at some points the ability to open her mouth. But Heather never lost her faith and her inner power to fight for life with all she had. Heather saw reminders of God’s presence throughout her entire journey. “The day before I got hit with the soccer ball I was driving on the highway and I got the twinge of pain in my side again. I was going to pick my daughter up from preschool and I thought ‘Oh no what if it’s something terrible! What if it’s cancer?!’ And I started to hyperventilate on the highway, I was just terrified suddenly. Then this car just kind of pulls in front of me and goes over directly in front of my car and its license plate said ‘Don’t Panic.’” After shaking it off and telling herself she’d go to the doctor eventually, she got hit with the soccer ball that night. Heather’s “eventually” became God’s “right now.” When they discovered the cancer in Heather, she was at Stage IIC, giving her a 70% chance of surviving five years. If she had waited only another couple of weeks her cancer could have easily moved to Stage III, giving her a 20% chance of surviving five years. It was a soccer ball push from above.
“If This Disease Doesn’t Kill Me, It Was the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me”
edly came up to her with prophecies that she would do well and heal or that God had heard her prayers. One such stranger stands out specifically in her memory. “One man came up to me and said ‘Psalm 6! God wants you to go read Psalm 6!’ I said ‘Well what’s Psalm 6?’ And he goes, ‘Well I don’t know exactly but it’s something about an ordeal and you look like you are going through an ordeal,’ because I had no hair. So I went to read Psalm 6.” In the verse David pleads with God to not let his enemies kill him so that he may spread God’s Word. This was the same prayer that Heather had repeatedly prayed, pleading to stay alive to raise her children and spread the word about this horrible quiet disease. And at the end of Psalm 6 it says, “God has heard your prayers.” Now that she is in remission, Heather has kept her side of the bargain. She started the Shout Against a Whisper Campaign, which aims to educate women about ovarian cancer. “Ovarian Cancer is the deadliest of the GYN cancers. It is like a snow globe inside you. It’s very quiet. That’s why it’s so deadly. Usually people don’t realize they have it until they are stage III.” The symptoms are mere whispers in every woman’s life and Heather intends to shout until every woman knows what these symptoms are. These symptoms include bloating, urinary problems, pelvic pain, and feeling full quickly. All these symptoms are very benign and familiar in most women’s lives. Heather urges all women to be very aware and if you experience even one symptom for three weeks or more, go get a pelvic exam. Heather is a fierce fighter against ovarian cancer traveling as much as she can to teach anybody who will listen how to hear these whispers. On September 14 Heather and her team will walk in the Gail Parkins Ovarian Cancer Walk in Raleigh, North Carolina to help raise awareness and money for the vicious disease. During her chemotherapy, Heather was mentally unable to write her romance fiction novels. “I was only interested in writing about how I was going
to survive. I was only interested in reading and writing about how to kill this beast.” Heather blogged throughout her experience about her victory through the suffering. Eventually she plans to write a nonfiction book to help cancer survivors. But right now Heather is excited to lose herself once again in her fictitious worlds that she can reassume some element of control over. She was thrilled to release her latest Dragonfly Chronicles book via Kindle on August 27, 2013, set to release nationwide in December. The next in the Highland Heart series is scheduled to release in January 2014. Heather is also very excited to announce her newest project: a young adult paranormal trilogy set to come out in February 2014. This allowed her to explore a different style of writing aimed for very different readers. Heather will be very busy with book signings come December through spring 2014, given her books release back-to-back months. Heather will be participating in the Tasty Book Tours and
Book Fair in Wilmington, North Carolina on February 28-March 2. Heather accredits her triumph to her unfailing God and her fierce family. From her husband who devotedly carried her when her legs failed her to her oldest daughter decorating her room with “I am a survivor” posters for inspiration every day, the love Heather received from all corners of her life was never ending. “I felt god with me every day. If this disease does not kill me, I think that this was the best thing that ever happened to me in my whole life. It’s redirected me. It’s given me focus. It’s showed me how literally not to sweat the small stuff. When I see roses now I don’t just breeze by, I literally will stop and smell every rose on that daggone bush. All the refrigerator magnets make sense now.” So let’s all wear teal this month, listen to the whispers, and stop and smell every rose for Heather and for all who share in this battle.
Heather continued to feel God’s continued support from unexpected sources. Strangers repeat-
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