DonnaLyn Giegerich is an award-winning integrated business and wellness spokesleader, a stage four cancer thriver, plus a loving partner to a husband who is also a cancer thriver. She begins by describing her very rare sarcoma, a soft tissue cancer that often is not curable. She has been cancer-free for many years and now dedicates her life to serving others including children and others with cancer. Shortly after her own recovery, her husband was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This experience of being a dual cancer couple has resulted in the couple becoming “daring adventurers.” She now teaches yoga and meditation and she and her husband have started a nonprofit that sends people with cancer on a cruise, called “Kick Cancer Overboard.”
DonnaLyn’s belief that her cancer might have “happened for a reason,” has redirected her volunteer efforts towards helping people living with serious illnesses. She discusses some of the holistic therapies that have helped her and her husband heal, including gentle yoga, meditation, deep breathing and visualization. Her deep faith has enabled her to “embrace death” and motivated her to become trained as a “death doula,” who are like “midwives for the soul.”
DonnaLyn says it’s important to honor our bodies and building our immune systems by “nutrifying our bodies” with healthy food. She shares her philosophy of “service instead of self”, which motivates her to reach out to others. She then discusses how to deal with the fear, despair and sadness and grief, all normal aspects of living with the stress of serious illnesses. Living in abundance, gratitude and with cancer all has helped her become more clear about what her purpose is in life. Tune in to find out how to nominate a cancer patient for the free cruise. For more information, please visit www.donnalyn.org or www.kickcanceroverboard.org.