Cancer changed me more than I expected

Posted on June 4, 2026 By Artemis Scantalides

When this picture was taken ^^^ in June 2025, I had no idea that 4 months later I would find a lump in my breast and it would turn out to be stage 1 breast cancer.

As someone who lives and teaches an active, healthy lifestyle, being diagnosed with cancer was a thought far from my mind.

However, since being diagnosed, I have learned, quickly, that cancer doesn’t discriminate.

You can get cancer, healthy or not, positive genetic testing or not.

Once you have cancer, you see things differently:

💔 You look at memories and photos as life before cancer and life after cancer

💔 You categorize things as “causes cancer”, “doesn’t cause cancer”

💔 You have survivors’ guilt when friends of yours die of breast cancer while you still have breath in your lungs

💔 You live with the fear of recurrence in the back of your mind, forever, and have “scanxiety” every time you have a preventive scan

💔 You feel angry that despite doing “everything right,” cancer still found its way into your life.

Cancer changes your mind, forever.

As my friend Geri, a breast cancer survivor said, “Your mind is never quite the same after cancer. It’s like being part of this club you never wanted to be a part of.”

Many people have said to me, “I would tell you to be strong, but knowing you, being you, I know you will kick cancer’s ass.”

True, but also, I am human, and while there have been many times I have just wanted to get into bed and stay there, when I have fought through those times and overcome with my strength to endure, this strength has turned into stubbornness to carry it all on my own from the procedures, surgery, and treatments, to the insurmountable medical bills.

Through this time many people have asked how they can help and asked me to create a GoFundMe and send them a link to support me and Eric through this difficult time.

I kept saying, “Yeah, I’ll look into it…” never intending to do it.

Last week, unbeknownst to me, my husband, Eric created a GoFundMe to ask for help.

I knew all of this had been hard on him, but being caught up in my own shit dealing with it, I did not know exactly how hard until I read what he wrote.

One line that stood out to me was:

“Through it all, Artemis has continued to work, determined to support us and keep life as normal as possible.”

It was like looking into a mirror and seeing my stubborn determination to continue to work like a lunatic through procedures, surgery, and now radiation treatment and insisting on trying to take care of everything myself.

It made me take pause as to how my strength turned into stubbornness and a coping mechanism for dealing with this difficult time.

Thankfully, I have Eric, who was able to realize that it was time to ask for the help that we need during this time.

We are overwhelmed by the support that we have received.

Whether you have shared the link or contributed, thank you all so much for all your support.

We are incredibly grateful for your love and generosity🙏🏽💜.

~Artemis 💜💙

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-artemiss-breast-cancer-recovery