Lisandra Balboa, una sonrisa llena de amor…
Each day we face different situations that for good or for bad teach us a life lesson. For Lisandra Balboa a young Cuban woman, who is just 27 years old, what started as a stomach ache due to abdominal rigidity, changed her life when the doctor order more tests.
She was just 25 years old when they detected stage 3 ovarian cancer, and was told she need to have surgery, at that moment Lisandra thought that it would be like taking a vacation since she was working and studying at the same time. But when in reality she understood the seriousness of her problem, she probably didn’t react as most people do when receiving such news. “I asked the doctor: “What is what we need to do? It is not that I wasn’t sad because I was diagnosed with cancer, it is not easy, but I always tried to see life in a positive way, I am always thinking -what is the next step to continue the fight against this illness”, expressed Lisandra.
One of the most difficult things that she faced was to be in her senior year in her schooling. When I was diagnosed, I was studying at home and at the hospital, I even had a friend of mine teaching me, she commented. I really had to work three times as hard to finish my classes and I succeeded. Finally I was able to graduate in
Accounting and Finances in Florida International University (FIU). What motivates me to continue keep going forward is to see that others are inspired by my positive attitude thank God i always have a positive attitude.
After having seven surgeries and still continuing with her treatment she maintains a fighting attitude that characterizes her. She remembers the days she was at the hospital and she felt bad due to the chemotherapy, she placed green sheets and a green pillow and placed pictures of her family and friends to feel at home. Every day she used a different color lipstick with bright colors so when she saw herself in the mirror she could smile through all. This caught the attention of everyone at the hospital. “This bad can be changed in a positive way, same with cancer, it is something that no one needs to have, but you have to face it with courage, strength and great love for life” she says.
This is when her friends Lisandra Castro and Jorge Antonio del Toro, when they saw they need a distraction and something to focus on created the Bright Lips Against Cancer Foundation, which is devoted to help those who are going through the same illness and in just one visit you can give encouraging words and brighten the day and the outlook in life. They also visit children with cancer at Holtz Children Hospital, they take toys and spend time with them, besides they participate and raise funds for the children at St. Jude Research Hospital, also the group’s Facebook page (Bright Lips Against Cancer) has helped many people who ask for their advice or by simply seeing their attitude, motivates them to continue fighting and improve each day.
“My support, and the support from my family and friends, towards my daughter Lisi is emotional and with lots of love, giving her security so she can be strong, be positive and faith against the illness. With the support of the entire family, her friends and other persons who meet her through the activities they have done to help and support other patients like her, we have achieved that she is with us, always with a great smile looking towards the future”, said her mother Maria Martinez, very moved.
With her faith in God as a shield and her hope that better times are ahead, Lisandra has become a true example of perseverance and the only thing she can say is “THANK YOU, thank you to the Foundation, my family and friends who to me they are family as well, to Dr. Emery Salom and nurses, to my professors and to all the people who even though I do not know them personally have been with me during this process. Thank you for your support, for caring about me, and for being there when I need you most. I urge to every person who is ill with this disease or any other illness, to have faith, courage and optimism, to achieve victory. Every day you must say: I am here and I have to keep going”, she concluded. If you want to support or join the Bright Lips Against Cancer Foundation, you can do it through their Facebook page.
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