Marcella Kelson Consulting

Launching today: Motherhood Through Cancer. This is the most meaningful work I’ve ever had the honor of doing: facilitating a community that is so desperately needed for women and mothers who are navigating treatment and survivorship. Including weekly newsletters, monthly virtual groups, podcast episodes, messaging boards and more. If you know someone who might benefit from this community, please feel free to share with them. Thank you to this community for your continuous support, always.

To learn that you have a life threatening disease in young adulthood when everyone is at their “healthiest” is traumatizing. You’re not supposed to be thinking about death when you’re 35. Or a few months after your daughter is born. It was impossible not to feel so alone in navigating the medical, physical and lifestyle impact of breast cancer. During treatment, friends would walk by me and they couldn’t even recognize me because of how much it changes you physically.

There are a few breast cancer initiatives that I felt genuinely supported by and is one of them. I feel compelled to highlight them in case anyone out there could benefit from their offerings but might not be aware of what they do or provide for us. Their funding supports services like MRI’s, physical therapy, mental health sessions, nutrition counseling, personal training sessions, wig consultations and masterclasses, makeup lessons for those experiencing hair loss, and so much more.

These are the things that we need to feel as “normal” as possible, but most of us cannot justify because of the unending medical bills that are incurred by treatment.

I wanted to highlight them today on Giving Tuesday because they embody everything I cherish about the breast cancer community: advocacy, community support, education and belonging. If you feel as moved by this initiative as I do, please consider donating on their page at . And if you know anyone who could benefit from this community, please share this post with them 🎀💕. Not an ad, just genuine appreciation on this

Please share with a cancer survivor that might benefit from a supportive community ♥️. My background is in mental health, maternal wellness/motherhood, parenting, and relationship dynamics. My hope is to provide a wonderful community for young adults who are going through this awful disease far too early in life, though no age is acceptable.

A few thoughts on my very personal relationship to breast cancer and month.
1️⃣ Proactivity is how I work through a lot of my trauma and anxiety. Connecting with other thrivers/survivors, and those advocating and caring about survivors, helps me process my experience. I like to think out loud, learn from others to hear their experience, and also educate others who want to feel empowered about their own health.
2️⃣I’m an 8 type on the Enneagram. Information gives me a sense of control/dominance (which I desperately seek) so I often intellectualize emotional experiences (like being diagnosed). Understanding research helps me briefly delude myself in to think that I’m in control.
3️⃣I am also VERY extroverted. I really enjoy connection and learning from others. I joke that if I see friends for enough time my software starts to malfunction. I also love being alone BUT I love being around women in general because my energy is quite masculine (very logical, assertive, pragmatic). I find feminine traits in others, like empathy, sensitivity to emotional experiences and attention to detail is extremely comforting for me to be around. The BC community is basically the deepest concentration of these qualities I’ve ever come across in my life and I am so grateful to be in it. (See cancer isn’t all bad!)
4️⃣Last but not least, I control what I pay attention to. At least right now I do. I’m not affected by pink washing, I don’t align myself with it. I’m focus on real changemakers like . I am grateful that people pay attention to breast cancer even though it isn’t perfect. Trust me, a lot of the other cancer/causes would LOVE a whole month of acknowledgment and fundraising, and are deserving of that. We just haven’t cracked the marketing for others which is cynical of me to say but it’s also how I honestly see it.
5️⃣Next year might be different. This is how I feel right now! We all have the right to change our minds about how we experience and cope with challenging times. Grief is ever-evolving and we are just along for that (mostly) miserable ride.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk!

In February 2023, as I finished my 16th round of chemotherapy, days after my 36th birthday, this community helped me raise over $35,000 for from one Instagram fundraiser. Donations from friends, family, friends I haven’t seen in years, new friends that I do not even have the pleasure of personally knowing, everyone made an extraordinary impact on my life and on the lives of people like me, who are in desperate need for more treatment options in order to live the long healthy lives they deserve. When I put myself out there, exposing the darkest parts of my life, this community was there for me via messages, donations and prayers. I just want to say thank you, and I’ll say it again and again. Thank you to this community for providing light through our darkest hours. And thank you to companies like and for making such a huge impact on breast cancer research via your fundraising efforts benefiting such a special organization.

Strangely, right before my diagnosis, and I worked on a piece together for which focused on managing difficult emotions and conversations with kids. At that point, I admit that I hadn’t had much experience communicating difficult topics with my kids. At least nothing compared to a cancer diagnosis. As I was navigating how I would break the news of my diagnosis to my 3 year old, I actually referred back to Daisy’s piece and in conjunction with the support of my therapist, I used it to navigate the conversation. so kindly agreed to open access to this piece upon my request, since I’ve recently had a scary amount of young moms reaching out to me with their own breast cancer diagnoses. We hope that this piece will be helpful to everyone since difficult conversations come in all shapes and sizes.
I’ll be relaunching my Just One Thing newsletter in the coming months, which, as always, focuses on practical skills and lessons in life and parenting. Please sign up via my website if you enjoy 3-Minute practical (and emotional) reads in your inbox once a week!

The other side looks like this- happiness, family, friends. If you’re in the thick of it, just know you’ll be here soon. Maybe you won’t be the same person you were, I certainly am not, but I love the woman I have become and am becoming. When I looked at death straight in the face, it did many things, but one thing it did is liberate me. Now I’m just free to be me. How amazing is that?

Happy birthday . My love and admiration for you is beyond words. I just can’t express how lucky I feel that you are my sister. Thank you for making sure I am always in the best hands, with the best care, feeling loved and supported. Through cancer, motherhood, and just everyday life. You are my rock. Thank you for being you. 🌸

Thank you for this very thoughtful and appreciated post-chemo treat. Such a magical way to relax and unwind by cozy fires, sipping a cocktail (first in 7+ months) and best tea I’ve ever had (seriously). We indulged in facials, antiquing and perhaps most most importantly- the most epic game of Scrabble (I won- still got it). For any one going through a hard time, I cannot recommend “dangling” some “carrots”. Line up a few getaways even if they’re just a night or two. The Mayflower Inn is just an hour away but I felt like I was far, far away from reality. Can’t wait to be back 🫶.

Just a week after this text exchange I was diagnosed with breast cancer. You might think this makes me unlucky, but I don’t see it that way. Finding a lump and being taken seriously IS LUCKY. Especially 3 months postpartum when it’s easy to write it off as a clogged duct. Catching breast cancer in an early stage is VERY lucky. So many women are disregarded as paranoid or encouraged to “wait and see”. I was 35 years old, perfectly healthy, no known genetics that cause breast cancer.
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If you’ve watched my stories you know my goal is not to scare anyone. My chances of getting this were low and yours likely are too. And if you DID, you could get through this just like I did, but timing is everything. Catching it early is CRUCIAL. There is no need to be paranoid, it helps nothing.
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My advice? Start getting yearly mammograms once you start having kids, after you’re done breastfeeding. Ask if you have dense breasts. If you do, push for an ultrasound.
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Check yourself once a month on the same day, put it in your calendar, otherwise you may forget. (I’ll also remind you on the 1st of every month!) I found my lump/hardness while sitting in the passenger seat of the car, I decided to be productive and feel around. If you know your breasts, you’ll know immediately if something is off. If something is off, then push for a scan. Push relentlessley- like your life depends on it- because it could. I picked up the phone and scheduled mine immediately. I thank God for that every day.
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I’m sorry if this triggering, it’s never my goal, but not empowering those around me with this information because I’m afraid to upset / trigger someone goes against everything I believe. I totally get if you need to unfollow! You do you.