ANELLE'S STORY OF HOPE SILVER LININGS, SEPT. 17, 2011 GRAND REGAL HOTEL, DAVAO CITY

My name is Anelle Forbes. My loving husband of 20 years is Buddy and we have two daughters, Arielle (19) and Aleena (14).

I am just like many of you, a full time working mother who strives hard to help my spouse provide for our family. We live a simple life and have always been satisfied with what the Lord has given us. I would be considered by others as someone who is OC or obsessive compulsive. I have always been very organized, especially in planning our life. I have set milestones and goals with specified timelines. Everything seemed to be going well in our life until that day in August 1, 2005, when I felt a lump in my breast. I believe that I discovered it through divine intervention.

I woke up on a lazy Sunday morning and because it's the last day of the weekend, I decided to stay in bed a little longer. I reached for the remote control, I flicked through the channels and I chanced upon a morning show with our very own, Ate B, Ms. Bibeth Orteza. She was wearing a bandana on her head and was sharing her experiences about chemotherapy and mastectomy. I felt that she was talking to me. I slowly felt my breasts and I froze when I felt a small hard nodule, a little smaller than a marble. I got scared but I tried to dismiss it knowing that I usually get fibrocystic lumps before my period. I almost forgot about it but in the afternoon of that same day, I went to the salon and as I flipped through the pages of an old magazine, I landed on a whole section on breast cancer, featuring women who had just undergone mastectomy. That time, I felt that it couldn't just ignore the signs. That couldn't be just a coincidence.

Everything went on so fast, I immediately had the lump excised, biopsied and the results confirmed that I had Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, stage 2B.

I will not deny that undergoing 8 cycles of chemotherapy was one of the most difficult things I had to go through in my 43 years of existence. I'm sure most of you know what I mean. But those difficult 6 months of chemotherapy proved to be a turning point in my life, for I have learned the most valuable lessons that I now live by:

First, cancer taught me to better take care of myself. I used to overwork myself. I lacked sleep and had a very bad unbalanced diet. I was lucky thought to have a very good immune system --- I rarely got sick. I rarely had flu, cough or colds and I thought I was perfectly okay. I thought I was a superhero. I thought I was Wonder Woman until cancer caught me by surprise. Cancer made me realize that if you abuse your body, payback time will come one day. Cancer or no cancer, it is but right that we take care of ourselves. We owe it to our families to stay healthy. Living a healthier lifestyle has proven to be very beneficial to me. My skin looked better, my hair looked healthier when it grew back after chemo.

I eat a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables. I still indulge in the foods I love but I never overdo it. My philosophy is 'everything in moderation'. I try to get quality sleep, I exercise and I listen to my body. I rest when I feel tired. I learned to let go of things I cannot