Melissa’s Story

Melissa, 50, has struggled with her mental health and addiction for years. She lives with Dissociative Identity Disorder and was “raised in a culture where you came home from work and had a drink.” The problem is, she says, she never stopped drinking.

In her 30s, after a decade of alcohol abuse, Melissa decided she wanted a healthier life. She stopped drinking, had gastric bypass surgery, earned her master’s degree in education, and got married. But after a few years, she relapsed as she tried to cope with the trauma in her life – an abusive husband, the loss of her brother, and a diagnosis of breast cancer, which led to a mastectomy and ovariectomy and two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy. In 2021, shortly after her mom passed away, Melissa learned that her cancer had metastasized. “I didn’t want to die,” she says. That’s when she reached out to St. Luke’s Penn Foundation.

Through the HealthConnections program Melissa is learning that she’s not alone and how to ask for – and receive – help when she needs it.  “My nurse will go with me to oncologist appointments. She’ll translate what the doctor tells me and ask questions that I’m too afraid to ask or don’t even know to ask. She also checks in with me regularly to make sure I’m doing what the doctor told me.”

Art therapy has been especially helpful for Melissa, helping her to identify her emotions and cope with them without alcohol. “My therapist encouraged me to try art therapy as a way to overcome my anxiety about meeting new people and trying something new,” she says. “I had no artistic skill or any interest in art, but I kept coming to the group.  Eventually, I actually made something, which surprised me, and I realized that the process of creating art grounded me and helped me to regulate my emotions.”

While Melissa continues to battle cancer, she is grateful every day for her sobriety and the people who have supported her on her recovery journey. “Addiction will take your life and lie to you. But recovery is possible. It’s a long, hard process, but you don’t have to do it alone. Thanks to the team at St. Luke’s Penn Foundation, I will be three years sober in December, and I know now that I have value.”