Elephants and Tea - June 2023 - 10

Dear Cancer...
HATEFUL YET THANKFUL
Hear More from
Tameka on Our
Podcast!
DEAR CANCER: I HATE YOU, BUT I LOVE YOU
AN INTERVIEW WITH TAMEKA JOHNSON, WRITTEN BY LISA ORR
Being blessed with the opportunity to speak to a metastatic
cancer thriver like Tameka Johnson proved just how
powerful sharing your story can be. Tameka is a former
teacher, a mom, a storyteller, an advocate, and an absolute
shining beacon of light in this world. Throughout our
conversation, I found myself needing to pause to take in her
strength and her beautiful, powerful message. I hope that I
was able to capture even a fraction of what I felt after hanging
up the phone on these pages, and I hope that after reading
Tameka's words, you are left feeling seen, heard, and inspired
to live every day to the fullest.
10
ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM
JUNE 2023
LO: Tameka, could you share a little bit more
about your background and experience with
cancer?
TJ: One thing that I don't talk about often
enough is my initial cancer journey and
my initial cancer diagnosis, which was
osteosarcoma, cancer of the femur, when I
was 13 years old. I was scared. I felt alone.
I didn't really understand at the time what
cancer was . . . all I knew was that people
were dying from it . . . It actually took them
six months to diagnose me. I remember being
in middle school . . . I was very athletic;
track, basketball . . . everything. I remember
being outside during PE and my teacher
telling us to run. I started running and I
started having this pain in my right knee.
I thought maybe I did something to it and
didn't know . . . I just kept an eye on it, but
as time went on, I noticed that my knee was
getting worse. The pain was getting worse

https://elephantsandtea.com/aya-cancer-unfiltered-podcast/ http://www.ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM

Elephants and Tea - June 2023

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