The New Definition of Healthy: Living Life on Your Own Terms

By: Sari Harrar, AARP

Joy in small things

Terlisa Sheppard, 56, has had recurrences of metastatic breast cancer for 25 years. Despite rounds of grueling chemotherapy and body-spanning side effects that led to a hip replacement, emergency brain surgery and ongoing fatigue, this retired accountant from Orlando, Florida, raised two daughters, stays active in national cancer advocacy and support organizations, and doesn’t pass up opportunities to get to the beach — or watch the sun rise and set on opposite sides of the Florida peninsula.

“We called it chasing the sun,” she says. “My daughters and I threw everything in the car and drove from Cocoa Beach to Tampa for the sunset on the same day. It’s a wonderful memory you cannot erase.”

Since her diagnosis in November 1998, Sheppard says, family and friends have been constant supports. Sisters, sisters-in-law and nieces have all driven to Orlando to help her out. A neighbor has been bringing over homemade soup for more than 20 years. Her Christian faith picks her up, too. Sheppard says if she finds herself thinking, I’m just sick and tired of being sick and tired, she’ll flip that around and say, “ ‘You’re still here. Just have a little faith that you can move on to the next moment.’  ”

Terlisa Sheppard ZACK WITTMAN

Expecting good things to happen has proven mental and physical health benefits. For cancer survivors, resilience can help improve outcomes by “absorbing the shock of a cancer diagnosis,” helping to protect against depression and anxiety, and supporting the ability to stay social and keep on taking good care of yourself, according to a 2019 review in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. And a 2015 University of Michigan and National Institute of Aging study of 9,790 older adults found those whose optimism increased over four years had a lower risk for developing new health conditions compared to those whose outlook didn’t brighten.

Sheppard is currently cancer-free.

“My status is NEAD — no evidence of active disease,” she says.

For her, cancer is a manageable disease, thanks to medical advances in cancer testing and to the rise of long-term therapies that reduce risk for recurrence and are less toxic than older treatments.

Sheppard reports to the hospital regularly for ongoing infusions that target her breast cancer. She also walks 10,000 steps a day.

“I don’t ache as much when I walk. And my other health counts are better,” she says. “At one point I was borderline diabetic and was sent to a nutritionist at my cancer center. I’m grateful to have a great medical team.”

She recently spent the night in the hospital room of a friend’s goddaughter who also had breast cancer.

“She was alone,” she says. “I couldn’t dream of that.”