Renee Annemarie: A Story of Pain & Perseverance
What makes you a Beautiful Disaster?
I struggled with self-confidence my whole life, never thinking I was good enough. But I learned that not everyone is perfect. Learning to love myself has been a struggle. As I have experienced life's challenges, I have grown in many ways, accepting the person and strong woman I am. I have become a diamond in the rough and learned how to shine from the inside out.
Why do you Identify with the Beautiful Disaster Brand?
It is a brand that shows that you can go through battles in life and still come out a fighter. The positive quotes and uplifting vibes bring women together who need that spirit to lift them up when life is just a disaster.
Tell us your Beautiful Disaster story.
The last four years have been very hard. I was given many battles to fight. I am an only child, and my dad got sick. My mom asked me to please help her. I moved home and took care of my dad until the very end of his life. I was a proud daughter of a Vietnam Veteran. My dad was always the positive one. He would always say, "Fight for what’s right in life. Never give up."
I lost my dad on October 16, 2021. Two hours later, on the same day, I lost my Godfather—all on Sweetest Day. I had to become stronger for my mom, who was now falling apart. Loss is a very difficult thing. She lost her husband and brother at once. I now had to be a warrior to keep her strong and prevent her from giving up. I made a promise to her that I would stay in her life and step in to take over all she needed from me. Without hesitation, I put my life on hold again.
It was hard at first, dealing with all the financial issues and depression. But I pushed through, and we became a mother-daughter team. No matter what problems came up, we had each other’s backs.
Just when things were looking better, I was blindsided in October of 2024. I had been having some health issues and, as always, wasn't thinking of myself. I kept telling my mom, "I will be okay." But then I was rushed to the hospital and found out I had endometrial cancer and needed surgery. It just happened to be on October 16, 2024—the anniversary of my dad’s and Godfather’s passing. I figured that was my sign: Be strong, you got this, chick, I told myself.
I underwent surgery and radiation and got back on my feet to be my mom’s warrior again. I am never giving up on these battles that life has thrown at me.
What happened for you to turn it around?
I have accepted that you have only one life on earth. There are many happy memories to make and time to celebrate—just being alive and healthy. I learned to love myself. I have seen struggles in other people around me, and making it through darkness has given me a better understanding of my purpose in life.
I was faced with cancer, and it made me a fighter. I will keep my head up and be that diamond in the rough.
Name 3 things you’ve done to move closer to happiness.
- I dance in my living room.
- I help others around me who need a little positivity and uplifting words.
- I take time for myself to find inner peace and serenity.
What is your favorite Beautiful Disaster collection, past or present, and why?
"What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger." It’s a story that is strong, and the statement is so true. Many people can relate to it.
Comments
Monie B said:
I’m also a survivor of endometrial cancer and something that the doctors don’t tell you about but is very common so be prepared especially when you’ve had chemo and radiation. I did not have either but this still happened. In approximately I don’t know 3 to 5 years possibly, expect to get edema in your lower extremities usually in your legs from the knee down. It’s called lymphedema and you’re going to have to have treatment for it. When it starts find yourself a lymphedema specialist because you’ll have to have physical therapy for lymphatic drainage. There are stages to this just like there are cancer and after you get past stage 2 and into stage 3 it is non-reversible is what I was told. It can take a while though a long time years really to get there but who wants tree trunk legs? Plus you always run the risk of getting cellulitis which is a staph infection under the skin due to the swelling and it also gives you old lady veins, you know the little broken capillaries around your ankles? Or maybe I’m just old and would have gotten them anyway. But you’ll need compression socks although I found that the knee socks I wear and have been wearing for a few years now have pushed the fluid up into my knees so now I have this pad of fat on my inner knees that was never there before and it’s not really fat it’s just fluid. Elevation helps too at the beginning but don’t wait too long to get treatment for it. I did treatment a couple years ago and then stopped and have started again recently and it’s not really helping unfortunately so I’m not sure what we’re going to do here but I don’t know if it’s going to stage 3 or not. Sounds like you’ve had a real rough patch though and you know what’s interesting too what you said about being rushed to the hospital on the day that your dad and godfather passed away? I received my cancer diagnosis on the day that we found out my dad had passed. He died the night before but we didn’t know until the next day which was February 20th and that was the day I got my diagnosis. Kind of interesting I thought and after reading what you wrote. I wonder why that is what the synchronicity is there with that? But anyway I just wanted to let you know about the lymphedema because nobody warned me about it. I don’t know if you’re taking hormones or if you’re oncologist recommended that you don’t as mine did but you definitely need to have some type of hormone therapy from the atrophy that occurs and no one told me about that either and I didn’t research it for some reason, but yeah if you have any type of sex life would definitely going to want to you something if you’re not already. I didn’t know and yeah it pretty much messed me up and I was in the hospital with a pelvic abscess for 3 days a few months after my surgery and believe me that is not something you ever want to deal with. Pelvic abscess? Who knew such a thing existed. Gross just gross. LOL hang in there and I’m glad you got the surgery and everything that you needed. I had no idea I had cancer I thought maybe I was just getting older or I had to endometriosis or something so I was shocked when it came back as a cancer diagnosis. I was in prison at the time and that’s not the place you want to be to get that kind of a diagnosis or go through surgery which I did while I was in prison still just a couple months before I was released. It was kind of crappy because you have no family around you just the people that live near you that you become friends and family with in there. But very stressful because you don’t know when you’re going for your surgery and they couldn’t tell me how far advanced it was cuz they had to do the surgery and remove the lymph nodes in order to find out how far it had progressed and what stage it was in. No internet either to look things up. But that’s what the lymphedema is from having the lymph nodes removed cuz apparently you need those. They aren’t just there to be removed and don’t have any consequences. LOL take good care of yourself
Colette Pelletier said:
Renee Annemarie, you are a fighter no matter what was thrown at you. Stay strong for you and God bless you and your Mom.
Tammy said:
A fighter for sure! Way to go BD sister!
Tammy Russell said:
❤️❤️❤️❤️