“I Knew Something Was Off: The Story Before My Cancer Diagnosis”

I was walking around with a tumor in my neck—but I didn’t know it yet.

Or maybe I did.

Deep down, something felt off. I didn’t want to believe it. I told myself it was nothing serious. Maybe inflammation, maybe stress. I brushed it off. But my body whispered louder than logic. The lump was there. Persistent. Subtle at first. But present. Growing.

I didn’t have direction. I didn’t really have guidance. My parents were around, but I felt mostly left on my own. Floating through my days. Searching, numbing, distracting myself from a deeper truth I didn’t want to face.

Eventually I started researching. Google can be a strange kind of companion. One article said swollen lymph nodes are normal with infection. Another said, “If it’s larger than a pea and lasts more than two months, get it checked.”

So I went to the doctor.

He felt it for maybe two seconds. Said it was fine. Would likely go away. No further testing. Just wait. I waited.

Two more months. The lump didn’t shrink. In fact, it grew. Slowly, but undeniably. By the time six months had passed, it was the size of a golf ball. I went back to the doctor again. and again every month. The last time, he finally took me seriously.

Tests. Scans. Appointments. Questions.

Then—the diagnosis.

And here’s the strange part: I was relieved.

Not because I wanted cancer. Not because I wasn’t scared. I was scared. I was overwhelmed. But I was also validated.

Something in me had known. And now the world finally reflected that truth.

I wasn’t imagining it. I wasn’t being dramatic. I wasn’t overreacting.

This was real.

And strangely, with the diagnosis came something else: a path.

A direction. I didn’t know what was coming—not fully. But I wasn’t lost anymore.

That was the beginning of what would become Holistic Path.

Because what I learned through that experience was this:

Doctors are trained to look at the physical body. They touch the tumor. They ask the logical questions. They run the bloodwork.

But they don’t ask how it feels to carry that fear. They don’t ask what your gut is telling you.

And yet—my body knew. It always knew.

And maybe yours does too.

If you’re walking around right now with something that doesn’t feel right, even if no one else sees it yet—this is your reminder:

You get to listen. You get to trust yourself. You get to take yourself seriously.

That inner knowing? That quiet unease? It may not be proof. But it is presence. And it is powerful.

Have you ever felt something was off before the world could name it?

Leave a comment below or message me. I’d love to hear your story.

Because healing doesn’t start at diagnosis. It starts the moment you begin to listen.