Three years ago, three words changed my entire life: you have cancer.

I can only describe that moment as feeling like everything was rushing by me at a hundred miles per hour and like they were coming to a horrifying, screeching halt simultaneously. I’ve never been in such pure and utter shock, and it was nauseating and earth-shattering. I heard the words, but I didn’t want to believe them. My grandmother passed from breast cancer in her 30s, my father had the gene, and it ran in my veins too. I’d felt the lumps in my breast for months and realized that no amount of denial would stop the fact that my biggest fear and worst nightmare was unfolding before me.

I learned very quickly that two opposing things can be true. That chemo can be the thing that wrecked my body and stole so much of my vitality, but that it is also the treatment that killed the cancer in my body and gave me a second chance. I can look at the culmination of the entire experience and count what it robbed me of, but I also lose count of all the things it gave me—fresh perspective, a deeper trust in God, a renewed wonder for life, the ability to see and appreciate the little things, a marriage restored.

healthAnnalise OgelbyJuly 20, 2026cancer, cancer survivor, breast cancer survivor, BRCA1, health, life after cancer, health journeyComment

15 Gift Ideas for My Fellow Chronically Ill Girlies

This gift guide was a real labor of love. I curated my first version of this it year and was overjoyed at the response it received. As someone who was so freshly navigating chronic illness caused by cancer treatment, it was sometimes hard to see how I fit into the world in the simplest ways. I felt out of place and had the hardest time relating to anyone that wasn’t a cancer patient or survivor themselves.

I had always enjoyed created gift guides around the holidays, but the lens in which I viewed the world had changed so much. And the broad stroke guides I had curated in the past honestly felt so shallow. But I have always loved giving my family and friends thoughtful gifts. And one thing that stood out to me during my year of cancer treatment—from chemo to my double mastectomy to radiation and more—were the incredibly thoughtful gifts I received from my loved ones that made me feel so seen and known.

It can be so hard shopping for someone walking through something as heavy and complex as a cancer diagnosis. So it made the most sense to start with what I knew best. These picks are as chic as they are functional—because no one should have to choose between style and ease.

Self-Reflection, a Holiday Moodboard, and a Venn Diagram for 2025

I’ve always loved this time of year.

The magical lights twinkling in the cold, dark nights, the slower, reflective rhythm of the days between Christmas and New Year’s—it’s my favorite season. This year feels even more special because it’s my first cancer-free holiday season.

But last holiday season, I was drowning under the emotional and physical weight of chemotherapy. It felt anything but magical. In all honesty, it felt more like hell than anything else. I was in the darkest place that I’ve ever been, and my body was the weakest it had ever been. I spent two weeks in the hospital and ICU due to complications with treatment that I didn’t know if I’d ever come back from—both physically and mentally. I wasn’t hopeful for the future, and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be. I was so close to giving up, but by the grace of God—and the unwavering love and support of my family and friends—I made it through 2023. I finished breast cancer treatment. I had my double mastectomy. I found out I was cancer-free. And with that, I stepped into what felt like my second chance at life.