04/03/2019 By Lula Camas

My name is Lourdes Camas, I am 35 years old and I live in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Since I was a child everyone has called me Lula. I was a normal person, with a normal life and I was having the best time of my life. I was married, with a good husband, and three amazing kids; Mariana, Santiago, and Sebastian. I had my house, a job, a car, and everything I wanted. I did CrossFit, so I was physically fine. I ate well and my life was perfect.

Until that day… April 28, 2015. I woke up with terrible dizziness. I couldn’t walk. I was feeling really terrible. I was confused because I was healthy, I had control of everything in my life, so I was afraid of what I was feeling. My husband took me to the emergency room, I couldn’t walk, I needed help. It was the longest drive of my life. It took an hour and a half to get to the emergency room. I felt that my head was growing and growing, and a terrible headache started, a big sound on my ears and my vision turned blurred.

Finally, we came to the hospital and they had to take me in on a wheelchair because, at that time, I couldn’t stand up. I was really afraid, I was thinking of my kids, they were so young. I had to do a lot of things for them, and I couldn’t even walk by myself at that time.

The doctors did a lot of tests and everything was fine until they ordered an MRI and there it was, a tumor on my brain. They had to remove it immediately. My brain was swollen, so they had to treat it first and a couple of days later, I had surgery. My emotions came out, I felt so small. I was afraid of everything; money, for my kids and my mom. She was having a bad time at that moment (physically), and of course, for my husband, I didn’t know if he could do everything I did for our family and his responsibilities as well.

I had surgery on May 1st, 2015. My amazing Dr. Enrique Azmitia removed the complete tumor and I had a normal recovery. (Really hard for me). But everything was just starting when a couple of days later, the results of pathology came. I was diagnosed with Oligodendroglioma Stage 2. It was cancer. When I heard that word, I immediately thought of my kids. I wanted to be there when they graduated from high school, when they got married, for everything. I cried a lot. But the news got worse because the treatment was really expensive and I wanted to receive the best treatment. Because in my country, the public health is terrible. Many people die before they receive any medicine. So my family, friends, and a lot of people got together to help me. That was amazing. I was on TV shows, in magazines, newspapers and we made a lot of activities to collect the money I needed. We sold t-shirts, cookies, bracelets, and everything we could.

A couple of months later, I went to Miami, FL to receive the radiotherapy and then came back to my country to receive the chemotherapy. I was born again. It was like a new a beginning, it made me realize that I didn’t have the best life, I had to take care of myself first, to take care of my emotions, to learn how to be really happy, but from the inside out. To do whatever I dream, and to care about other people.

Right now it’s 2019, I am 3 years cancer free and I do a lot of things to help people who are on this beautiful road of evolution. I am a speaker now, I go to schools, universities, and companies to talk about my experience and everything I’ve learned. I teach them how to really live, and the key to being happy in life is to care, to have tolerance and acceptance. I also share on my social media, the tips of how to take care of yourself both physically and mentally. My life now is better and I live it, one minute at a time. Because I now have another opportunity to do it, just for me.

Life is beautiful and it needs just a second to change everything. We have to live one day at a time. Enjoy what you have, who is with you at that time and always be grateful for that.

GRYT is to accept with love what you’re going through.

GRYT is to accept that sometimes you need help.

GRYT is to use that fear as a strength to beat cancer.

GRYT is to be thankful for your body for fighting with you.

GRYT is to get in charge of your emotions.

GRYT is to live one minute at a time.

Connect with the author on Instagram (@lulacamas).