LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky has the highest cancer rate in the United States, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. While the disease has claimed many lives, it has also created warriors who are using their experiences to empower others.
Lauren Esposito is one of those warriors. At St. Joseph's Cancer Center's first survivor celebration event in Lexington since the COVID-19 pandemic, she shared her journey from diagnosis to empowerment.
"It's an overwhelming feeling of joy being here," Esposito said.
The cancer center's parking lot transformed into a block party complete with stiltwalkers, bounce houses, and food trucks — all to celebrate cancer survivors like Esposito.
"It's wonderful. I did not realize how big and beautiful this community was until you actually, like, join it and see I'm, you know, it's incredible," Esposito said.
But this wasn't her mindset last July when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"The doctors told me what kind of breast cancer I had but to be honest I kind of blacked out when I heard the 'C' word," Esposito said.
Her initial reaction was anger — not in a "How could this happen to me?" sense, but as fuel for her fight.
"My whole approach was just anger," Esposito said. "It's just like, you will not win. This is not the end of my story. You're not gonna take me down."
Now she's empowering others battling cancer with the same message.
"Be mad at it, fight back," Esposito said.
Esposito is sharing her story publicly, something she never thought she would do. Her mother encouraged her to speak at the event.
"You don't know how much that took to get up and speak in front of everybody," her mother, Jeannine, said.
"I encouraged her. Lauren, I said, part of your survival needs to be that you are encouraging other people," she added. "They need to hear from you because in the beginning you know we didn't have any idea. We didn't know how the chemo was going to impact her."
Jeannine says it's important for families dealing with cancer to hear from survivors because they know "that they're not just blowing smoke that they're telling you what it is that's going to happen."
Now that Lauren is completing her therapy and is cancer-free, her perspective on treatment has completely changed.
"Every time I walk into the cancer center, it's no longer like this dread and like here we go again, and I'm just like, hey I'm seeing my friends!" Esposito said.
