Beating cancer: “Taking the old you into the new you”

From staff reports

On Aug. 22, 2018, Livonia, Mich., resident Sara Ianitelli visited Sleeping Bear Dunes for a girls’ hiking excursion. She and a cousin walked the Empire Bluff trail and paused for a yoga pose with a mesmerizing view of Lake Michigan below.

A year after the above photo was taken, Ianitelli, then 34, was diagnosed with Stage 3a Clear Cell Ovarian Cancer. She underwent two major operations within a few days of each other, including intensive chemotherapy. Her doctors still administer treatment to prevent a recurrence, but Ianitelli’s scans currently show no evidence of the disease.

“Going through cancer and chemo I wanted to stay healthy,” said Ianitelli, who has worked as a pediatric nurse for the past 16 years. “I wanted to stay active. I didn’t want to lose me!”

This year, on Aug. 6, she and her boyfriend Mark planned a summer getaway return trip to the Dunes. Ianitelli decided she wanted to take the same hike and re-create the same photo (below) from three years earlier.

Ianitelli runs a young ovarian cancer support group on Instagram with many women under age 40 that have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

“We all face many struggles being so young with this diagnosis,” she said. “Part of re-creating this photo was to prove to myself that I can still do it. After a cancer diagnosis you struggle to take the old you into the new you. This was showing that I am still me. I am still active and love the outdoors!”