The Comeback IS Greater than the Setback

BY AWP PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUBY JEAN PHOTOGRAPHY

There is no question: each person walking the Earth has known someone affected by the disease that has plagued us for centuries – cancer. For the bravest few who have been affected by cancer, the journey back to health may be filled with hills, mountains, curves, and bends, but as Sonja Lang and many like her have demonstrated, there are also meadows, valleys, and mountaintops through the journey, and wellness wins!

As a nursing assistant for 20 years, Sonja spent her days helping patients while they underwent their healing process. Along with her training, she gave her patients the encouragement they needed, accompanying it with the compassion necessary in a time where a smile, however simple it may seem, has the potential to be the light in someone’s darkest day. Nursing is an occupation that requires not only professional training, but also a high level of selflessness and a boat load of compassion and empathy, characteristics embedded in Sonja Lang, a 37-year-old wife and mother, who in an instant had to abruptly put aside her love for caring and helping others to focus on her own journey to healing.

Born in Oklahoma City on the Tinker air base, Sonja and her younger sister by two years, Lindsay, and their parents made the nearly 2000-mile trek across the country to make Concord, New Hampshire their new home. While in high school she met Ryan, and the high school sweethearts were married after high school. Nearly 23 years later, the Langs have created a home built upon friendship, supporting each other through growth, surrounded by love and family, and providing a home that gives a safety blanket of love to their fiveyear-old daughter Penni, a blanket that wraps tighter through the most turbulent of times.

On September 27, 2018, after a routine checkup, Sonja received devastating news from her doctor. She had an aggressive form of breast cancer, and it was at stage 3, which required immediate treatment. Sonja had to stop working, an added weight that was not needed at the time. Within the same month, her husband Ryan, a senior master automotive technician, had severe cervical stenosis and also required surgery, putting him out of work as well. Sonja joked lightheartedly that the two became one, her right side had been impaired and his left side had been impaired. So, the two operated as one, becoming the part their partner needed. The Langs took this time of change in stride, allowing it to draw them together instead of fighting it. Previously expert planners with everything in its place, the Langs found in this time to let each day present itself and they would show up as their best selves.

With aggressive stage 3 breast cancer, Sonja had to have a port placed, undergoing four surgeries and having 14 lymph nodes in her right breast removed, as well as having to make the very tough decision of having her ovaries removed. Sonja also received 35 rounds of aggressive radiation, 30 rounds of Herceptin and Perjeta (breast cancer targeted medications), and 16 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy over a period of 19 months. One of the treatments used is known as “AC,” or as patients call it, “the white devil,” a chemotherapy treatment that is extremely potent. Sonja recalls the nausea, hair loss, and feelings of debilitation after undergoing rounds, her body feeling the side effects as well as having to emotionally process what she was experiencing.

It took strength Sonja drew from her deepest parts, never missing a step to care for her husband and daughter. Most cancer treatments are aggressive and take a toll on a patient’s body; the side effects vary, yet each one takes its respective toll. Sonja found that cannabis medicine eased and reduced the effects of her aggressive treatments, cannabis bridging the gap created by the cancer medication. After treatments, Sonja would be weak and unable to move, finding herself laid out “flat on the ground.” Once taking hash rosin capsules or a flower form of cannabis medicine, within minutes she was able to get up and spend time with her daughter and husband.

Sonja received her cannabis medical patient card in New Hampshire, but even as a veteran, medical cannabis was overpriced. After Sonja began sharing her story on social media, friends reached out, and Sonja started coming up to Maine where she not only found affordable medicine, but also a community of caregivers who care about their patients and the importance of those patients receiving chemicalfree medicine.

After trying RSO (Rick Simpson Oil), Sonja turned toward using hash rosin capsules organically grown and made by RoxiGrey, a medical cannabis farm located in Maine. Hash rosin capsules have proven to be a form of medicine that is most effective for Sonja. Taking a trip to Sanford, Maine to a dispensary called Vetted Cannabis, Sonja encountered not only friendly service but also people who care about veterans. Maine has a wealth of quality medical cannabis caregivers, and allowing patient reciprocity has given more patients the opportunity to receive medicine that is grown chemicalfree with the potential to improve their day-to-day well-being. When that medicine is also incorporated with the correct dietary and habit changes, within time, a patient is able to bring about the restoration of the body’s defense system.

Sonja Lang

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUBY JEAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Sonja serves as a witness to cannabis medicine. According to Sonja, cannabis saved her life. Although undergoing treatments is now behind her, for the next 10 years, Sonja will be on Tamoxifen, which has side effects. For the last 13 months, Sonja has been in remission, each day taking in moments to heal her body, mind, emotions, and spirit — all of which, over 19 months, supported her, prevailed, and remained strong.

Sonja’s emotional and spiritual healing path brought her to sharing her story and experiences — the good, the bad, and the grey. By boldly sharing her story, Sonja has helped countless patients find their voices amidst the noise to share their stories, freeing them from the shadows of the unknown. Educating many who want to help but don’t know how, filling the void, and creating a safe space for all to share and learn, as well as understand how life changes after cancer, Sonja hosts a podcast twice a month where she brings cancer survivors and patients together to share their stories. Her podcast is called Sonja’s Saviors and is available on Youtube. Creating an NGO under the same name and taking time while she heals and prepares for nursing school in the Spring, Sonja has handcrafted and personally packaged more than 218 cancer care packages for patients over the last 13 months. When she is able, she even personally delivers these packages!

With a diagnosis that could have left Sonja preparing for anything, it instead catapulted her to a position where she can not only help patients in hospital beds, but also bring comfort to those who receive her personally crafted packages, those who read her inspirational and motivational posts on social media, and everyone who listens to her podcasts. Sonja encourages those who may feel like giving up to hang in as each day is different, educates people about cancer and its effects and side effects, and helps those who wish to learn more about alternative medication, like cannabis, and how it changed her life. Sonja is an example to anyone that your comeback is greater than your setbacks .

Sonja Lang

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUBY JEAN PHOTOGRAPHY