Tatyana Gann

A dear friend I have known for many years gave me a call on his way home from the hospital on one Saturday night. His wife just had breast cancer surgery. He was uplifting as always and happy to talk, sharing news about her and what they had to do in the following months. We talked about our faith and how our lives have gone through some detours.

As I listened to him, I paused … I was reliving some of the moments of the past year. It has been almost a year since my first appointment with my breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Pat Whitworth. I can still smell the cool October air.

On October 16, 2019, my life drastically changed, and I had to embrace a completely new journey. The past 11 months have brought many transformations with a lot of sweet “aha” moments and pure tears of joy. It has been a year of deep forgiveness and healing. It was my personal journey to find my anchors and evaluate many priorities in my life, let go of the things that did not matter anymore and say yes to the happy me.

Looking back at the past year, my quest was to embrace the change and find love tucked in my heart that I somehow lost a few years ago following my divorce. As I write this, the sunshine that peeks through the curtains reminds me of the good days ahead … Sometimes you might ask yourself, “Why do I go through all these challenges and trials.”

Then I realized, I was providing support to a dear friend and his wife who too had breast cancer. At the end of the call, my friend asked what I did differently that brought me out of the fear zone and into the warrior mode.

There was a pause then I answered, “It was my choice to either let life happen to me or pray for God’s wisdom to make the right decisions and be proactive in my healing journey.”

We have a blind faith and maybe it is important to be faithful, but the truth is that healing does not happen by doing nothing. It takes bold faith and action. It requires discovering who you are and finding your way.

You can choose to find your calm and your anchor. You can choose to stay positive. You can also surround yourself with women who have been in your shoes and could give you solid advice.

There is an amazing level of inner strength that you feel coming from these warriors. They might be fragile and petite, but they are strong.

Every day is a battle. But we have a choice to make things happen every day. We can look at our life as an opportunity to grow even when it hurts, or we can give up and not care.

So, let’s highlight some things you must become to get through any life challenge, especially breast cancer.

Being a strong woman is more than being a female version of a Roman Gladiator. There is nothing that can be compared to the strength you find when cancer attacks your body and you learn to love yourself even more. Being strong is the only choice you have and first you will cry, break down, fall apart and then you will gradually put yourself back together. Every day I would affirm I choose life. Because tomorrow is not guaranteed. You give the best to yourself first.

Speak your desires into existence. Speak healing and love into your life. That is where your strength is hidden. It is the power of your words that changes your mindset, changes your energy, and changes your life. Those words can bring peace or cause stress.

The first time I came to Dr. Whitworth’s office, there was a poster on the wall about managing stress. 

 was an amazing way to identify where you were on your healing journey.

Gratitude has led me to experience more love and the hardest thing I had to do was to learn to accept love as well. Many strong women often do not know how to love themselves fully and they have a hard time accepting love and care from others. Often it is a cultural thing or a family thing. In my Russian culture, women were taught to never complain and take care of their lives. We were taught to survive and get through times of crisis with a smile.

When you learn to accept love, you will feel worthy. And when you feel worthy of being loved and appreciated for who you are, your life will change. Your transformation will happen fast when you learn to accept love and love yourself. Because everything you will do in your life will come from the place of love for who you are, including your healing, your relationships, your career, and your business. Everything will change.

Allowing others to help you and accepting care and love is something I had to learn in the past few years. You want to be Wonder Woman, ready to take on any challenge. When you agree with the idea that having help is totally cool, you finally realize once you accept love you can give more love back into the world. Your heart is finally healing and everything else falls in place. You are more motivated to do things you have delayed for a long time and you are motivated to change your lifestyle.

Good support system and solid medical team

I have been very blessed to have an amazing surgeon. He is an incredible doctor who has been a big blessing in my life and has encouraged me to practice mindfulness and work on reducing stress.

I am grateful for my friends that provided an amazing holistic health education.

I am grateful for my church friends who supported me in so many ways. I am so grateful for my dear friends who reminded me how strong I was and who prayed for me and my healing.

I am grateful for my book agent Julie who inspired me to write and share real life experiences.

I am grateful to my sons who are my rock and joy. They are my miracles. They are my true loves.

I am grateful to my parents from whom I have managed to hide the truth about the breast cancer diagnoses for many months and finally gave in and revealed the news. I am grateful they stayed calm.

I am grateful for this journey and for my life.

Are you grateful for your inner circle? Make sure to tell them today.

When you truly embrace your strength, find gratitude and self-love and surround yourself with loving and positive people, magic things can happen.

Tatyana Gann is a publicity strategist, mindset coach, writer, lifestyle advocate and breast cancer thriver. Her aim is to inspire women to tell their story to heal their mind and body. Tatyana resides in Nashville with her two sons. You can follow her on Instagram 

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Looking to change your mindset when facing down breast cancer? Here are 3 hacks to keep you calm and happy. 

3 Mindset Hacks That Can Keep Women Facing Breast Cancer Calm and Happy

I was talking with a friend when I saw that my nurse was calling me on the other line. It was a Wednesday afternoon and I was enjoying my usual stroll in the lobby of the office building where I worked. I do not remember much of what happened after I hung up the phone.

I could not feel my knees because it felt like somebody hit them with a baseball bat. I found myself in a meeting room being hugged by one of my co-workers as I was sobbing and screaming.

How could this happen? Maybe it is a mistake. Maybe they made a mistake in a lab. Maybe, just maybe …

I drove home with black mascara running down my cheeks and I tried to pay attention to where I was going, but I could not stop crying.

I was sitting in my SUV in front of my home, glued to my seat, and I wondered how I would reveal the bad news to my sons. How would I tell my family? Will I live? Will I die?

Those questions were racing through my head, but I realized I had to get out of my head if I wanted to keep my sanity. I had to find a new way to be at peace. But first, I had to adjust my perspective.

I called my sister Ingrid in Russia. We have not spoken in a long time, and it was an opportunity to heal our relationship. I often blamed it on the distance and being away from each other, and that we never wrote letters to each other but rather just spoke on the phone or sent the occasional social media message.

She lost her husband to cancer in 2012 and I knew she would understand me. Something in my heart told me to call her. It was late at night and I tried to keep myself together, but I could not. I cried. I was scared. I let it out. I told her I loved her and cared deeply.

That night, she told me something that became my anchor going forward. “Look at this challenge as your quest to discover who you are,” she said. “Remember you are loved, and you are love. It is your journey to accept love again. You always give love and you are afraid to receive love.”

Instead of accepting my cancer diagnosis as a major health challenge, I looked at it as my awakening to see the truth about what truly mattered in my life. It became my mission to heal my body, and for the very first time I felt like a new woman, ready to conquer the world and thrive again. It infused my spirit with courage and faith. I made a tough choice – to keep going and never give up.

Two days later my best friend flew in from Philadelphia. I picked her up at the Nashville airport. We have not seen each other in more than five years and I never expected our reunion would be under such circumstances. She hugged me tight and said in her soft, kind voice, “You will be OK. You will beat it. You will be just fine!”

And I knew right then it was a beginning of something beautiful and exciting in my life. It was my first step to loving myself again.

The next three months revealed what needed to be done. Every day I would learn something new about self-care and practicing mindfulness. One night after seeing my new surgeon, I came home and sat on the floor in the middle of my tiny living room and I prayed to God. I prayed for miracles and asked for guidance.

My intuition led me to Dr. Pat Whitworth, a brilliant breast cancer surgeon with Nashville Breast Center. Suddenly, everyone was telling me about him. Even a lady who ran a local donut shop said, “Honey, he saved my life!”

I believed her while savoring my Bavarian cream donut and sipping on my coffee on a Saturday morning.

The moment the surgeon walked into the room; I just knew he was the right doctor for me. My search stopped right there.

He was different than any other doctor I have met. He knew how to bring me out of my funk and into a state of inner peace. There was a calmness about him. His energy spoke before he did. He helped me see my life in a new light, embrace each moment and never lose hope for the best. His care has helped me win a battle within myself and accept myself for who I am, with all my flaws and all my scars and accept a new title of “Wounded Warrior.” Every time I would experience anxiety, his response would be “Tatyana, find your peace and stay there.”

Since I started my breast cancer journey, I have met a few women who are powerful cancer survivors. They told me that cancer had given them a new lease on life.

Some of the life lessons I have learned include:

Let go of everything that feels lukewarm or toxic,

Stop doing things that do not excite you anymore and do something kind for yourself, and

Forgive often and say “I love you” without fear of looking stupid.

Breast cancer makes you wiser and more mature, but it also opens your heart to see that love is around you.

Removing cancer was only a fresh beginning of discovering my true purpose in life.

Cancer also taught me another big lesson about trusting myself and listening to my intuition. The most beautiful gift you can give to yourself is to listen to your inner voice, the one you are so afraid to trust and often you tend to brush it off, saying “You are thinking too much!”

Cancer has showed me something that I initially did not want to accept, which was to love myself.

Tatyana Gann is a publicity strategist, mindset coach, writer, lifestyle advocate and breast cancer thriver. Her aim is to inspire women to tell their story to heal their mind and body. Tatyana resides in Nashville with her two sons. You can follow her on 

Breast cancer makes you wiser and more mature, but it also opens your heart to see that love is around you. It has showed me something that I initially did not want to accept, which was to love myself.

Tatyana Gann

3 Mindset Hacks That Can Keep Women Facing Breast Cancer Calm and Happy

Breast Cancer Taught Me to Love Myself

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