y l t c e Perf d e w Fla When Mylee Cardenas was diagnosed with Invasive Carcinoma, she knew exactly what she had to do...
Words: Kristy Tamashiro Photos: Charles W Simmons
...Beat it into submission.
What is a hero? Many come disguised by masks, donning body armor, and having superhuman powers that make them indestructible. Many have the ability to fly, teleport, and destroy unworldly creatures. Barring fantasy, a hero is someone who can conquer life’s hardest obstacles. Someone who has overcome abuse, kidnapping, rape, PTSD, single motherhood, and breast cancer. Someone by the name of Mylee “Yc” Cardenas. Mylee had considered joining the military at the age of 16. “I wanted to go to medical school and I knew the Military could help with college expenses.” Like many Americans, one particular event in history all but made her decision for her. “As I watched the news on 9/11 I made my decision to join and met with a recruiter that following week. I wanted to do something to help I wanted to be a part of something bigger than me.” By April 2009 Mylee had earned the rank of Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. She was then deployed and outpost in Northern Afghanistan. Mylee’s military career has taken her across the country, but her past ten years have been spent in North Carolina. She is a single mother and a combat veteran. Under the tattoos, short hair, athletic built, and that shining smile, lays a will power like no other. Mylee was deployed in August 2011 to 2012. In November 2012 she found a mass in her left breast but dismissed it as just a cyst of some sort. Later, in January 2013 she noticed that the mass was getting firmer. Soon after, she was diagnosed with Invasive Carcinoma. Throughout treatment, her drive and pride in never leaving her team kept her strong. Fear, would not become an option. Two days after she moved to Washington, a new state where she didn’t know anyone, she got her port placed. A port is a small disc made of plastic that sits just under the skin that allows the chemotherapy medicine to be given through. Having a port placed can be very mentally taxing on the patient. To many it can signify the battle officially beginning. That Friday she started her first round of chemotherapy. The reality that this would be her life for the next year and a half was starting to set in. As one can imagine, this time was full of ups and downs. Radiation took a huge toll on Mylee. The first four weeks of treatment were extremely brutal on her. All in all, Mylee’s chemo totaled more than twenty weeks of sickness, hair and nail loss, unwavering exhaustion and so much more.
A long with that came with explaining to her nine year old daughter Abbi, what her mother was about to endure. During this time she wasn’t able to stay with her daughter. She was forced to explain the situation, and then leave again. Mylee’s daughter mimics everything she does. If mom is in a bad mood, Abbi is in a bad mood. Mylee felt like she had to be strong for her daughter. “I told her very by the book, mommy has Invasive Carcinoma, this is what it is, this is what’s going on. She didn’t like me to baby it so I told her like she was a patient.” Mylee’s daughter missed the majority of her treatment while visiting her father. At first, Mylee tried to shield her daughter from the truth, but being very mature for her age, Abbi helped her mother realize that it’s okay to admit her illness. She told her, “You know you don’t always have to be happy mommy, I know you’re sick.” It bothered Abbi to see her mom without hair, but she has proven that great strength and courage comes in small packages. With physical therapy comes emotional treatment as well. Mylee started using the gym as her sanctuary during chemotherapy. Amazingly, she would hit the gym before and after her treatments, using the time to condition her body and mind. She turned to the gym when cancer became too real. “I would go to the gym where my world was normal. I could get on the treadmill and lift the weight. Maybe not as heavy as I wanted to, but I did it.” The gym has become her sanity to deal with PTSD and everything else life decides to throw at her. She also explained that within the four walls of the gym, everything was perfect, everything made sense, everything was controllable. That is one of the many things Mylee has learned throughout her experience. She explained the key to everything is to and focus on the controllable things in life. She feels that cancer was a blessing and curse at the same time. It showed her what she was capable of in life and what she could get through.
The main thing is not only physical strength, but staying healthy on the inside. Mylee explains, “You can’t have a house warming party and the exterior of the house looks perfect, but there’s no furniture inside the house to make people feel comfortable.” Just like that analogy, Mylee focuses on the inside as well as her physical appearance. “Even though I know I’m a strong person, I’m stronger because I admitted what I’ve been through.” She has learned a lot about what her definition of strength is. She turns to her boyfriend Alex Minsky, who has also seen his share of struggles in life. She explains that she started accepting help not as a weakness, but as a strength. She’s learned that bottling it all up inside doesn’t make you a stronger person. Handling things on your own doesn’t make you a strong person; instead it can easily make you narrow minded. Mylee still has breakdowns every once in a while, but she knows how to pick herself back up now. She turns to Alex for help, “Alex has been very instrumental in helping me learn too instead of shoving it all down. Like I never cry, now I do cry. If I have a breakdown he tells me, ‘It’s okay talk to me about it, I’m here for you.”
“I’m stronger because I admitted what I’ve been through.”
“Then I compared this run to the past year and a half of my life and I left the cancer at the top of the next hill.” Fresh off her treatment, Mylee decided to participate in the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship. The run is a 21km race on a beautiful scenic route through the Kualoa Mountain Range. This race would be Mylee’s first after returning from surgery and treatments. Due to her recovery, she didn’t quite prepare for this race as much as she would’ve liked too, but when she could, she would jump on the treadmill at an incline and walk at a fast pace for about an hour. She has a competitive heart and the will to win, but for this race her goal was to just enjoy the view and have fun with it. The XTERRA Trail Run is a challenging half-marathon (13.1 miles/21km) course that takes place at the base of the Kaaawa Valley at Kualoa Ranch. XTERRA also hosted a 5km and 10km trail runs, an adventure walk, and a free OC 16 kids sprint. The course has come to be known as adventurous, to say the least. Surrounded by lush green vegetation, it runs along the side of the striking Hawaiian coastline. The course is filled with winding, unstable gravel roads, muddy creek bottoms, and a variety of hills that range in incline.
At the bottom of the first hill Mylee explains she became frustrated with herself, “but then I compared this run to the past year and a half of my life and I left the cancer at the top of the next hill.” Though it became clear that she wouldn’t make her targeted time, she pushed on and persevered. She powered through the brutal race, even falling and cracking her phone somewhere along the way. Still, she came out of it with a positive attitude and a feeling of accomplishment. Coming in at with a time of 3:58, Mylee crossed the finish line to meet a rousing applause. Of course, just like the times she had stumbled along her journey through treatment, Alex stood there to greet her. Each finisher in the XTERRA race series is given a medal. The Trail Run World Championship Medals announce proudly, “SURVIVOR”. Draped over the shoulders of Mylee Cardenas, a medal has rarely spoken such truth.
“Focus on the positives, focus on what you’ve done to this point.”
Through her Facebook page, Mylee now uses her life experiences to provide advice and inspiration to her 87,000+ followers. Her journey is undoubtedly an inspirational one. The way she has molded such trying events into a way to help other people get through their own battles. “Focus on the positives, focus on what you’ve done to this point. Everything, every great person, business, anything has had set backs, but it’s those things that they have made it through, that they have accomplished and can look towards.” Mylee also wants people to know that it’s okay to admit that they’re not perfect. She admits that in fact that’s the one thing that lifted the weight off her shoulders and made her a stronger person. “Being able to accept help on something that you don’t want too is a huge strength itself.” She also explains that motivating other people is what motivates her. Mylee confesses that making people realize how amazing they are lets her go to sleep at night thinking she did something good today. She loves the look on people’s faces when she can make someone realize what they are capable of accomplishing. This race may have seemed long and tiring to Mylee, but it doesn’t compare to what she has overcome this past year in her life. This was just another test to show her what she is capable of. Amongst the memorial ribbon tattoos on Mylee’s forearm reads another that says, “Perfectly Flawed. Yesterday I did, Today I can, Tomorrow I will.” She is a survivor, an indestructible, real world hero. Her will power to push forward through hardships is something to truly appreciate. One could look at a story such as Mylee’s and think, “Wow, I sure hope life will take it easy on her…” But who would we be kidding? She’ll just blast through the next obstacle anyway.